Brotherly Love?
by wired2damoon
Summary: Things have been hectic for our favourite non-couple with the tragedy of Zack & fake deaths...but are things about to get even worse with the arrival of Booth's brother Jared? Especially if he takes an "interest" in a particular anthropologist? BB AH
1. Prologue

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**A/N: Hello all! This is my very first Bones fic so I hope I don't disappoint! Just a few things you should know: 1) As I'm Irish there will be some spelling/grammar differences in my writing but I'll try to make it universal! 2) I'm very busy with exams and college applications so I probably won't be able to update as much as I'd like to, I hope you all understand! That's all for now, hope you enjoy!! wired2damoon **

**Disclaimer: Ah I always forget about these! Okay, no Bones material belongs to me! It all belongs to the wonderful FOX Network, sigh…**

**THIS FIC IS NEWLY EDITED TO FIT THE EVENTS OF SEASON 3.**

**BASED IN EARLY SEASON 4**

**PROLOGUE **

"Aww…c'mon Bones, one cup of coffee isn't going to kill you! A thirty minute trip to the Diner and the next thing ya know you're back in your office sipping a nice hot cup of coffee goodness", the dreamy voice of Special Agent Seeley Booth floated around Dr. Temperance Brennan's office irritably.

"Booth! I told already told you! I don't have time to go to the diner! I have a mountain of paper-work to get through from our last case…which by the way I believe you do too", the anthropologist replied matter-of-factly.

"Yeah I know I do Bones, but its still gonna be there in half an hour! C'mon, come to the diner with me…please?" he asked, turning on his 'award-winning' charm smile.

Rolling her eyes to the ceiling Brennan sighed in defeat. She knew he would just keep annoying her like some over-active four year old if she didn't comply. So for once she took the easy way out.

"Alright fine Booth, one cup of coffee then its straight back to the Jeffersonian were I can get some substantial work done!" she snapped as she stood up and reached for her coat, completely unaware of her partner engaging in a quite elaborate victory dance (which looked like an imitation of clucking headless chicken) behind her back.

"That's my girl!" Booth muttered under his breath, not wanting her to hear or else he would surely feel the wrath of her lecture on 'alpha-male tendencies such as supposed ownership of a female'.

"Let's go", he replied, this time loud enough so she could hear him, whilst stepping forward and laying the palm of his hand on the small of her back and stirring her out the door, completely ignoring her mutters of protest.

* * *

"What did I tell ya Bones…this is heaven…" Booth moaned with pleasure as he took a large gulp of coffee and a bite of his apple pie.

Brennan shifted slightly in her chair, silently hoping that he did not offer some as Sweets' voice rang in her ears.

"_Booth's constant efforts to persuade you to enjoy fruit pie could be interpreted as a kind of seduction"._

Coughing lightly and ignoring her thoughts Brennan responded, "well if this is indeed Heaven then the Bible seriously does leave a lot to be desired", not looking Booth in the eye and covering her smirk with her cup.

"Its just an expression, Bones!" Booth muttered, trying very hard not to roll his eyes at this genius's lack of knowledge of social expressions.

Brennan sat quietly nursing her coffee as Booth finished off his pie. It had been two months since the whole escapade with Zack and everyone was still on edge, they had had a number of cases since then, and Brennan was running through a number of Grad Students which didn't help her mood lately. She felt her mind wander as she sat at ease in the familiar diner.

Seeley Booth watched with silent awe at his partner. She seemed to have gone off in a daze, obviously deep in thought. He couldn't help himself but to wonder what on earth might be going on in that brilliant mind of hers, but unfortunately he couldn't ponder for too long.

Suddenly out of nowhere a strong pair of arms wrapped themselves around Booth's neck and squeezed him tightly.

Booth's eyes widened as he glanced over at Temperance who seemed in a trance, merely staring his way.

"Well if it isn't Special Agent Seeley Booth", a voice whispered into his ear, the breath warm as it connected with his skin.

Seeley's reflexes were right on target as with one smooth movement he had stood up, clutched the arms that held him captive and twisted them behind the person's back, resulting in their face being smashed down onto the table.

Brennan gaped at the occurrence and stood up also, glaring down at the man.

"Woah…lil bro. I see you still have those awesome moves…" spoke the man, his breath coming out in gasps.

Seeley's eyes widened as he instantly let the man go.

The intruder turned to face Booth and shook his head lightly. "Typical Seeley, always on guard".

"Jared?" was all Booth managed to say before his older brother engulfed him in a massive hug.

Brennan smirked and relaxed slightly as she watched the events unfold. So this was Booth's older brother.

"Jared man, what the hell are ya doing here?" asked Booth slapped his brother on the back as they broke apart.

Jared Booth frowned. "Now is that any way to greet your favourite brother?" he teased.

"You're my only brother Jared…" Booth replied rolling his eyes and suddenly connecting with Bones'.

Jared turned and smiled at the beautiful woman that was watching them.

"Well bro aren't ya gonna introduce me to this wonderful woman?" he asked turning to his brother and motioning to Brennan.

"Yeah sorry Bones, uh this is my brother Jared, Jared this is Dr. Temperance Brennan, my partner", Booth mumbled his palm rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Brennan, noticing this frowned but shook Jared's hand in what she hoped was a friendly manner.

"So this is the famous Bone Lady? Well its very nice to meet you Dr. Brennan", Jared smiled as their hands connected. Brennan couldn't help but notice that Booth wasn't the only member of his family with a 'charm smile'.

"Its nice to meet you too Jared", she smiled back feeling his eyes absorbing her.

Seeley watched this interaction uneasily for a moment. Time seemed to stand still as his brother and his partner began to make small talk.

'_I don't like the look of this' _he thought to himself before hurriedly ushering Jared to sit down beside him.

He sat beside Bones instead.

**A/N: Well what do ya think of the Prologue? Please let me know if ya want, no pressure! Lolz wired2damoon Xx**


	2. Sibling Interactions

-1**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 2: Sibling- Interactions.**

**A/N: Thankies to everyone that reviewed the last chapter, it means so much to me that you would take the time out! I hope that this fic will be successful both at an accurate scientific view and overall to be a good read. Constructive comments are welcomed. Again, thank you. -wired2damoon-**

"Wow…so this is the Jeffersonian", gaped Jared Booth, his mouth practically hanging open in awe of all the shiny surfaces.

"Yes this is the Jeffersonian Institute where I work", Brennan replied, a small smile spreading across her face at Jared's expression. He resembled a young child on his first outing to the zoo. Jared turned to her and smiled widely, Brennan grinned back.

"Yeah so Jared you didn't tell me why you are here man? Just visiting your wonderful brother or what?" Booth interrupted at Brennan's and his brother's 'moment' stepping gingerly between them.

"Oh that! Yeah I was getting to telling you the story. Uh a friend of mine, Johnson, Mike Johnson, has been vacationing in DC and no one has seen him the last few days. His girl called me two days back in a real mess saying that he wasn't answering his cell and she hadn't seen him since early the day before so I came down here to visit her. But when I got to their apartment she was out, so I left a message and went to Hoover looking for you and some guy said you were probably out with your partner. So, I called the Jeffersonian, I really don't know how I remembered you telling me she worked here, and asked for you and some guy called Dr. Hodgins answered the anthropology unit and said that you were at some "Royal Diner" near here- it really wasn't all that hard to find you…" Jared explained with an air of confidence as they walked unbeknownst into Brennan's office.

"Well, I see the power of investigation wasn't completely wasted on Booth alone", Brennan commented in her observant tone as she listened to Jared's tale.

Jared smirked at the lady doctor's comment. He could tell she was a feisty one.

"Yeah well let's not forget who the FBI agent is here people. Now, tell me more about this friend of yours, Johnson", Booth interjected, folding his arms gruffly, an air of annoyance about him as if an irksome fly was buzzing around his head.

"Well, there's not that much to tell lil bro. He's from Pittsburgh, up here visiting his girlfriend's folks for the week and went out for a pack of cigarettes on Saturday night and hasn't been home since. Ella, Mike's girlfriend, remembered me saying my brother worked for the FBI and asked me to come and talk to you", Jared explained and for the first time sounding mildly hysterical as he rambled frantically.

Brennan's heart went out to Booth's brother as she heard the familiar sound of panic mixed with grief lacing his tone.

"I'll do everything I can Jared. Did she file a missing person's case?" Booth asked, patting his brother on the shoulder gently.

Jared nodded but remained silent.

"Well, I'll see what I can do. Does she know the agent assigned to the case?" Booth asked timidly, noting that his brother seemed a little fragile as he went over his friend's details.

"I-I don't know…I haven't been able to get in touch with her since I arrived. I-I'll try her cell again…" Jared replied as he quietly excused himself from Brennan's office, phone in hand.

"Well?" Brennan asked turning towards her partner arms folded.

"Well what?" he responded, frowning slightly.

"Well, do you think we have a potential case?" Brennan finished leaning forward towards Booth slightly.

"I'm not the man on the job Bones, and I'm nearly directly involved with the 'potential' victim so I probably won't be allowed on the case anyway", he stated in a grim tone.

Brennan almost glared at him. "Not even for your brother Booth…surely you could do some-"

Booth held up his hand to silence her as his cell phone rang.

"Booth", he muttered in the speaker, trying to vanquish the dark thoughts he was beginning to have as Brennan's words washed over him.

"Booth-its Cullen…"

Seeley listened intently to Cullen and after a few moments shut his phone very slowly.

This did not go unnoticed by Brennan.

"What? What is it?" she asked him, pondering whether she wants to hear the answer.

"Looks like we have a case after all Bones?" Booth sighed.

Brennan frowned at his reaction, slightly puzzled.

"A body was found two blocks from where Jared's friend Mike disappeared…" Booth continued, his eyes shifting to the floor.

"Oh…" was all Brennan could manage before Jared sauntered back into her office.

"Okay well I talked to Ella, she's home now, so I'm going to go visit and-"

The look in his brother's eyes silenced and rooted him to the spot. "What is it Seel?" he asked, failing to mask the worry in his voice.

"I just got a call from my boss Cullen. He's got a case for me…a body has been found two blocks from the gas station Mike was last seen at…"

Jared stood gaping at his little brother in shock. Oh god no. This could not be happening.

"C'mon Bones, I need you…" Booth piped grabbing Brennan's coat from the back of her chair and helping her put it on.

"Seel, I want to go with you man-"

"No Jared. It can get pretty…ugly…at a crime scene. You really don't wanna come".

"Seeley I'm your older brother and I'll whatever the hell I want! Don't think for a second that you're leaving me behind", Jared threatened, stepping dangerously close to Booth and poking him pointedly on the shoulder whilst glaring at him straight in the eye.

Brennan watched this transaction carefully. It really was a fantastic anthropologic study opportunity. Sibling- interactions.

"Look Jared. This is not up for discussion alright? I've been called to a case, its my time to work. You, as a civilian are not authorised to accompany me on any case so I'm sorry dude okay? Just, let me drop you off at your hotel and I'll call you when I find out something", Booth reasoned, but Brennan could hear the determination in his tone. No, there was no way this Booth was backing down.

Brennan decided to intervene.

"Look Booth maybe we could-"

"-No Bones we can't anything. Cullen wants us there. I stand by what I said", Booth interrupted, still not taking his thunderous glare off his slightly shorter brother.

Jared's expression faltered slightly. He looked a tad put off for a second but it was quickly masked by a false smirk, even Brennan could realise that.

"Alright little bro. Whatever you want, as you say let's not forget who the FBI agent is. As for the ride to my hotel, its okay I rented a car and its parked outside. I'll see ya later, give me a call if you hear anything", he mumbled as he made his way toward the door.

Just as he exited, he stopped as if he was forgetting something.

"Oh yeah, and it was a pleasure meeting you…Bones…" he smirked before walking out the door without a backwards glance.

Booth looked as if he was going to speak but Brennan beat him to it.

"Uh, you too Jared…you too…"

Booth looked disgusted at the little smile that was gracing his partner's beautiful face.

"Well he's charming", she said quietly before gathering her equipment and preparing to leave.

Booth merely nodded not knowing entirely what to say and trying to mask his pent-up anger towards his brother.

No one could get away with calling his partner "Bones" but him. No one! Not even his 'charming' older brother.

**A/N: Well what did you guys think? Oh the cheek of Jared, calling Brennan 'Bones'! How will the rest of the squints react to this new face do you think? Angela's first encounter with the sexy Booth brother should be interesting eh? Well its all coming up in the next instalment! Hope you're enjoying everything so far! -wired2damoon- Xx**


	3. We Have An ID

-1**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 3: We Have An ID**

**A/N: Sorry for such a long wait for the update! As I've said before I've exams going on until February so things have been hectic for me! Lol! Anyway hope this satisfies your Bones desires (I can't believe it won't be back until APRIL) and I do the show and its characters justice!**

**Disclaimer: Hey…if it was really mine, Booth and Bren would so be at it like rabbits by now! And seen as they're not (sob) it obviously means that none of the Bones material belongs to me! God, that's so hard to say, but sadly true! It all belongs to FOX and the show's creator, Hart Hanson (genius!! Along with Kathy Reichs of course!!)**

"Victim's male, mid-twenties to early thirties".

"Time of death?"

"Judging by the rate of decomp I'd say…forty-eight hours but Cam or Hodgins would be able to confirm that accurately."

"Cause of death?"

Blunt-force trauma to the back of the skull. I can't tell for sure in such dim lighting but I highly suggest cerebrum haematoma-bleeding in the brain", Brennan replied, taking the precautionary measures to make sure Booth understood her. Yes, she had grown considerate towards him over the years.

At present, Dr. Temperance Brennan and her partner Special Agent Seeley Booth were standing (well more like hunching) in the middle of a dark, dank parking lot, beside a battered, old dumpster were a decomposing body was discovered by an old man working at the gas station across the street.

Booth still never got used to the fowl stench of rotting flesh at crime-scenes but merely learned to deal with it with a grim face.

"Alright I want all this bagged and shipped straight to the Jeffersonian", Brennan demanded, addressing the large team of forensics people racing about them.

"Well c'mon then Bones", Booth muttered as he finished writing his notes and looked up to find his partner staring him straight in the eye.

"What?" he asked inquisitively. He never knew why but only the stare of his partner seemed to unnerve him, well, her's and Cullen's that is.

"Aren't you going to go tell your brother?" she asked, making it sound more like an order as she placed her hands on her hips and took a large step towards him accusatory.

"Well yeah, I mean that's what phones are for right?" he mumbled, wiggling his cell phone in her face as her icy stare still penetrated him.

"A phone? You're going to update your brother by phone?" Brennan replied, her tone completely bewildered, reminding Booth of a child when they were uncertain of something.

"Well its not like we have an ID yet Bones…when-if we find out that its Johnson then I'll go see him in person", Booth reassured her.

Brennan looked slightly bemused by his response but nodded all the same.

"C'mon Bones…I'll drive ya home…" Booth continued, although this time his gaze failed to meet her's.

----

"So do you think its Mike?" Jared asked his brother worriedly.

Booth sighed and ran his hand over his face tiredly. He had just arrived back after his apartment after spending three hours at the crime scene, an hour at the lab and nearly forty-five minutes trying to convince his workaholic partner to go home to bed. It had been a long night to say the least.

"Its almost impossible to tell without the squints. They'll probably have an ID by tomorrow. They have this amazing artist, that can ID anything just by running the reconstructed skull through this machine called the Angelator", Booth informed his brother reassuringly in what he hoped was a soothing tone.

"Wait…reconstructed skull? You mean…the skull is smashed in?" Jared asked, the worry and panic evident in his tone now.

"Look Jared man try not to think about it alright? This guy might not even be Johnson, we don't know for sure yet…" Seeley mumbled, his tiredness over-powering him but his determination to set his brother's mind at ease won out.

"Hey thanks man. I know you're doing all you can. I just…I just wanna know what happened to him ya know?" Jared muttered, his voice breaking slightly which didn't go unnoticed by his younger brother.

"Yeah, yeah I know. I promise I'll help ya find out what happened ok bro? But right now what we both need is some sleep. Why don't you meet me at the Jeffersonian tomorrow and we can talk for a bit, see if we have an ID?" Booth asked, completely forgetting his oath of not letting Jared getting involved. He just felt so sorry for the guy, he knew what it was like to feel helpless.

"Yeah thanks Seeley. It'll feel good to help out. Listen I'm gonna go get some sleep, I'll talk to ya bright and early ok?" Jared replied, his voice now laced with a small amount of hope.

"Ya sure, night bro", Seeley responded before closing his phone with a snap.

He sighed and leaned back on his couch, covering his face with his hands.

This was going to be a long and difficult case, this much he knew…

---

"So what's he like?"

"Who?"

"Booth's brother! Aww c'mon sweetie don't hold out on me! Tell me, is he I-want-to-smother-you-in chocolate-and-lick-you-till-you're-dry-hot?"

"Angela!"

"What? Oh c'mon Bren, you know that's how I describe Booth so why can't his brother be the same?" asked Angela, a not-so-innocent grin gracing her beautiful face.

"Yeah but do you have to be so descriptive?" Brennan asked, trying to keep the look of disgust off her face.

"What can I say, it's a curse! Oh god you know if I wasn't so crazy in love with my Bug Man I'd so tap that", groaned Angela, rolling her eyes and biting her lip.

"Tap what?" asked Brennan, completely oblivious (as usual) to Angela's meaning.

"Oh sweetie really! But I wonder if his older brother is as 'jump-worthy'?" the artist pondered, tapping her chin with his pencil as she sat on Brennan's desk and crossing her long, slender legs in thought.

'_Jump-worthy? Ok, now Brennan had no clue what she was on about…'_

"Ok you've completely lost me now. Alright I'll describe him to you…" Brennan sighed in defeat.

Angela's face light up like a kid's in a toy store, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Well, he's actually the complete opposite of Booth now that I think of it. I mean I didn't really get a change to fully examine him but from what I could tell he has bright blue eyes, sandy brown hair, about five-foot-eleven with a tanned complexion", Brennan recited expertly by memory, Jared's face floating on front of her eyes.

"Exactly how long did you 'examine' him for?" Angela asked, a laugh escaping her lips at Brennan's unfortunate choice of words.

"Ange! You know that's not what I meant!" Brennan scolded her friend for her frequent dirty-mindedness.

"Oh Bren, I knew exactly what you meant", Angela giggled, winking at her.

Brennan never got to form a response however, as she suddenly heard a knock from her doorway.

"Good morning Dr. Brennan, I was just wondering if Seeley was about?"

Brennan and Angela exchanged glances as the artist's mouth dropped open in shock.

So this was Jared Booth.

Nice. Very nice indeed…

---

"So the artist seems nice", Jared commented, remembering his interaction with the beautiful Angela as Seeley slipped his key-card through the slot and walked up the stairs and onto the platform.

"Who Angela? Yeah she's great, a little forward sometimes, but great", Booth replied as he walked over to Cam.

"Hey Booth…Jared! What are you doing here?" Cam smiled as she looked up from the computer she and Hodgins were sitting at.

"Hey Cam! Ah I'm just visiting! How've ya been? How's that hot sister of yours?" Jared asked, knowing exactly how to push the pathologists buttons,

"Oh she's as irritating as ever! How're you? Still with that sexy waitress, what was her name? Candy?" Cam smirked folding her arms gently.

"Cindy. Nah, we broke up a while ago, things got a little messy when her biker ex-boyfriend came knocking on my door", Jared laughed heartily.

Booth rolled his eyes and was about to comment when he saw his partner now enter the platform and stride over to them.

"Hey Bones, got an ID yet?"

"No, not yet, Angela's running the facial reconstruction through the Angelator now", Brennan replied, watching with interest at Jared and Cam's interaction.

"Good morning Dr. Brennan", Jared interjected politely, extending his hand for her to shake.

Brennan shook it lightly and smiled up at him, his bright blue orbs shinning in the light, almost glowing room.

This occurrence did not go unnoticed. In fact two people watched intently, Seeley and Cam, although she was more interested in Booth's reaction if she were completely honest with herself.

Time seemed to stand still as their hands connected and their eyes locked. Booth couldn't take another second merely watching the two.

He coughed loudly and practically shouted, "oh hey here's Angela!"

Angela approached them, a confused frown on her face.

"Well thanks for the warm introduction Booth…uh, I have an ID…but I don't think you're gonna like it", she mumbled, her frown deepening.

"Is it Mike?" Jared asked frantically, breaking his connection with Brennan and striding towards Angela.

The artist sighed deeply before drawing a deep breath.

"No…it's his younger brother…"

The room lapsed into complete silence…

**A/N: DUN DUN DUN! Well what did ya think? Let me know by reviewing if ya want!! Thankies to all my reviewers so far, you are amazing!! -wired2damoon-**


	4. Naked, Wet Coffee?

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 4: Naked, Wet, Coffee?**

**A/N: Okay, thankies to everyone who has reviewed so far, love-r-of-Jam, GorgeousGummyBear, HawkAngel XD, iversusme, piratesmiley, Sarah9488, tvholic68, beverleymitchellrocks47, ddamato, Bambuskaru, beagle, lol.idk, colonelheather, and kairbear1980! Sorry if I missed anyone! Anywayz thankies to everyone who has read and reviewed it means so much to me! And now…chapter 4!!**

**Enjoy!!**

"So jump-worthy…" Angela muttered as her eyes flickering devilishly as Jared Booth bent over the railing as he waited for his brother to show up.

"Sorry Miss Montenegro?" he asked politely, not hearing her properly.

"Oh…nothing Jared, and please, call me Angela", she grinned, batting her eyelashes.

_Did she just bat her eyelashes? _Jack Hodgins wondered angrily.

"Uh hi, we haven't been introduced, I'm Dr. Hodgins…" Jack stated matter-of-factly, striding in between his fiancé and this so-called jump-worthy cheap imitation of Booth.

_Uh oh. Jack only ever referred himself as 'Doctor' when he A, has the hots for someone, or B is threatened by them. Angela severely hoped it was for the latter, although if not that would be so hot!_

Angela watched the interaction between the love of her life and the sexy piece of ass quietly. Oh god seeing Jack jealous made her so hot for him. So what if she has a little fun?

Striding over to were Jack was now squared up to Jared (his head only reaching Jared's chin) she slipped her arm gently around his shoulders and kissed his cheek tenderly.

Jack, who obviously was taking this as a sign not to be threatened by Angela's behaviour, instantly relaxed and excused himself from the two, muttering something to do with bugs and particles.

"You'll have to excuse the Bug Man, he gets a little jittery around tall men," Angela explained jokingly.

Jared smirked, understanding her hidden meaning and lightly nodded his head.

"Ok, so what we got Angela?" came the voice of Seeley Booth from below the platform.

His brother's voice wasn't the only one that could be heard floating up towards them. The quite irritated tone of Temperance Brennan could be identified also, obviously directed at her partner.

"I can't believe you sometimes!"

"Just leave it Bones!"

"No I won't leave it, I mean you come barging into my apartment-"

"-You told me to come in".

"Not into the bathroom I didn't!"

"Well how was I supposed to know you were in the shower?"

"Don' t you have that heightened sense of hearing from the Army?"

"Only when I'm on guard Bones…"

"I thought you were on guard all the time?"

"Consider it as payback for last time when you barged in on me in the bath! And I am always on guard!"

"I did not barge in on you. I needed to talk to you, its not my fault that you were otherwise occupied. And obviously you're not always 'on-guard' if you just decide to stride into my bathroom while I was getting out of the shower which you could of heard from the living room and was clearly still turned on!"

Booth tried to forget she even mentioned the words _turned on _as her very wet body entered his mind, covered by nothing except a skimpy little towel…

"Ah jeez Bones! How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?"

"Well you've said it twenty-four times since we left my apartment so, I'm thinking a hundred…"

"Bones! It was a rhetorical question! You never apologised for storming into my bathroom so I'm not saying sorry a hundred-"

"OKAY!! Doctor Brennan, Agent Booth when you're quite ready", Angela intervened trying to hide an amused smirk that was threatening to grace her face (and making a mental note to question her best friend later on their bathroom antics) as the two furious partners approached them, red-faced and breathing heavily.

The two stopped arguing abruptly, as if they suddenly noticed their audience.

Jared couldn't help but frown at their behaviour, but he tried to block it from his mind.

"Now…as I've said, our victim is Mike Johnson's little brother Nick. Twenty-four years old, lives in uptown D.C in that new apartment block just at the corner beside Luigi's. No one reported him missing, probably because he lives alone and is unemployed, but according to Hodgins, the maggots/flies that were found at the scene were at least thirty-six to forty-two hours old, which gives us a time-frame of at least a disappearance of a day and a half", Angela informed them, looking grimly in Jared's direction, trying to explain things as gently as possible.

"I've ran the injuries through the Angelator if you wanna come take a look", she continued gently, clearly addressing Booth and Brennan but it was Jared who answered.

"Yeah I'd like to take a look at this Angelator…" he mumbled.

Angela looked quite skittishly at Booth for a moment, waiting for his approval. At the tiny nod of his head that went unnoticed by both his brother and his partner Angela proceeded to lead them into her office.

--

"Blunt force trauma to the back of the cranium is the cause of death", Brennan explained as the image Angela created hovered in mid-air.

If it wasn't such a horrible image of what happened to his best friend's brother Jared would find the representation of the human skeleton fascinating. He had to admit however, Angela truly was an amazing artist.

"Fractured clavicle, scapula and humerus suggests signs of struggle, twisting and turning, also the widening of the rib cage and sternum suggests that the arms were bound, as do the abrasions Cam found of the wrists", Dr. Brennan continued, and for once she was aware of the affect this was having on another human being, Jared Booth.

Seeley patted his brother on the shoulder gently as he nodded to his partner to continue.

"Broken metacarpal and carpel suggests that the victim had his fists bared and connected with something extremely coarse, like a wall or another hard surface, and the position of both ulnas suggest that the victim had his arms raised on front of his face to protect himself", Brennan finished, her eyes focused on a spot behind Angela's head, willing herself not to cast a glance at the older Booth brother.

As Brennan explained, Angela switched from image to image of what happened to the young Nick Johnson. She could clearly see what effect this was having on Jared and sighed slightly, this was going to be a difficult case.

"He…he was such, such a good k-kid", Jared muttered, his eyes cast downwards as Seeley gripped his shoulder.

"He, d-didn't deserve this…" he sighed, turning away from them and proceeding to walk around Angela's office.

Angela took this as a sign to switch the machine off.

"Well we're going to catch the bastard that did this to Mike's brother, and in the mean time try and find Mike, hopefully alive and safe, so c'mon Bones, let's get going", Booth said, the level of determination in his voice clearly adamant.

Brennan seemed to be ignoring him however as she just strided silently over to Jared and placed her right hand on his shoulder. Open-palmed Booth noticed.

"I'm so sorry Jared…" was all she muttered, but it seemed to sooth him considerately.

"Thanks…Bones…" he smiled slightly. "You wanna go get some coffee?" he asked, staring her straight in the eye.

Brennan almost gasped as she saw the intensity behind those ocean-coloured orbs, and before she knew it she was nodded her head vigorously.

"Good…I'll meet ya out front in a minute…" he mumbled, taking her hand and holding it for a second before departing.

Angela watched in awe at this occurrence, her jaw almost touching the floor.

As Brennan stood stock still for a moment, something suddenly caught the artist's attention. Booth.

A low growl could be heard coming from her left, not loud enough for Brennan to hear, but just loud enough for her.

Angela smirked slightly as she saw the flash of jealousy wave across Seeley Booth's handsome face.

_Oh…things around here just got a whole lot more interesting…_

Angela decided to break the ice and start up a conversation as Brennan continued to stare after Jared and Booth continued to glare at Brennan. In typical Angela-style she said the first thing that came to her wonderful mind.

"So Bren, what's this I hear about you and Booth seeing each other wet and naked?"

**A/N: Lol! God I love Angela! She reminds me so much of someone, can't think who though. Oh yeah…I remember, me! Haha! Nah not in the looks-department (Michaela is just too beautiful and slim) but in the personality-department I've been told she's me all over ha! I suppose that's a good thing! Huh? Anywayz let me know what you thought of the chappy if you wish! All reviews come with a complementary cyber cookie!! -wired2damoon- Xx**


	5. Bones No More

**Brotherly Love**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 5:Bones No More**

**A/N: Hey everybody!! I'm so sorry for my slow update; it's actually rather a funny story. During my only holiday from school were I didn't have to study, my reasonably new computer obtained a MAJOR fault and stopped working (I could lose ALL my files –sob-) and a repair guy won't be out until Tuesday. Well, I thought to myself that that this just wouldn't do, so I got a bright idea. Up in my "junk room" there was my ancient (9 year old) computer so I just randomly threw it together and now this is what I am typing on(I didn't even realise it still worked!) That may not sound like a major deal to anyone but you have to understand I am a seventeen year old girl with Cerebral Palsy lifting extremely heavy objects up and down my stairs, I could have seriously been injured or killed myself lol all because I wanted to update now instead of waiting until Tuesday and use my new computer ha! For the time being I'm stuck using a computer nearly as old as me whose buttons get stuck, mouse doesn't work, has no sound and takes AGES to connect to the internet, so please be patient with me!! So anyway I hope you all enjoy this chapter, after all it nearly cost me my life!! Ha, I know, I'm so dramatic! -wired2damoon-**

Jared Booth was quite a proud man. He was never the type to clearly convey his emotions with his personal expressions – Seeley Booth was the complete opposite however and as of now he was very, very irritated even Dr. Temperance Brennan (who usually was rather oblivious to such things) could see that.

"Why don't you come too Booth?" she asked politely, snapping out of her reverie and swiftly dodging her best friend's embarrassing inquiry.

"Oh no Brennan, I wouldn't want to impose, me and my brother can catch up later, beside I have some old case files I have to look over so…" Seeley replied, looking in every direction except at his beautiful partner who was more or less being whisked away by his "charming" older brother.

Temperance looked slightly uncomfortable at these words. Booth never called her Brennan. Dr. Brennan maybe when he was on duty and referring to her in a case or to someone important, but never, ever, was she called _"Brennan" _to her face like this.

Angela seemedly caught on to the added tension throughout the room and coughed loudly to divert the rising awkwardness between the non-couple.

"Well, uh, shouldn't you be going then Booth? I mean, don't let me and Bren keep an important FBI Agent from his work", she grinned, knowing fully well she was giving Booth his escape goat.

Seeley realised what Angela was doing and silent thanked her with his eyes.

"Yeah you're right Ange, my work is important. I really should go…" he trailed off as he left Angela's office.

Brennan and Angela stood, stock still as they watched intently as Booth exited the room at top speed, muttering a hasty "bye" as he swiftly dodged Temperance and disappeared from sight.

Angela looked side-ways at her best friend and noticed that her breathing was somewhat erratic, her eyes as round as saucers and her fist clenched at her sides.

Seeing a window of opportunity Angela jumped head-first into what was going to be an interesting conversation.

"So sweetie, you never did answer my question…"

* * *

"So, what's good to eat in this place?" asked Jared Booth, grinning widely at the beautiful forensic anthropologist sitting opposite him in the "Royal Diner".

"Well, I usually order the special salad and black coffee and Booth usually orders pie", Brennan muttered hastily, not looking her companion in the eye.

"Yeah my brother was always the adventurous one wasn't he?" Jared joked, rolling his eyes at his brother's boring habits.

Temperance, who seemed oblivious to Jared's teasing merely nodded politely and placed her order of the salad and black coffee to the nice waitress.

Making his mind up, Jared placed his order and folded his arms, openly staring across at his lady friend, who sat mutely staring out the window, her mind obviously a million miles from where they were sat.

"A penny for your thoughts Bones?" Jared asked attentively, not wanting to startle the good doctor out of her thoughts.

"That's an expression Booth always uses. You want to know what I'm thinking about?" Brennan confirmed, although her statement sounded rather more like a question then a statement.

The older Booth brother nodded, slightly confused at the doctor's almost bewildered rationalising of their conversation.

"I was just thinking that, I'm not that comfortable at you calling me Bones", Brennan replied bluntly, knowing fully well that she had no idea how to put it more gently.

"Oh", Jared replied, not knowing fully where this conversation was leading.

"It's just that, it's a name that is reserved to be used by Booth and Booth only", Temperance added, sitting forward slightly, feeling the urge to explain herself.

"But I am a Booth", Jared argued.

"Yes but you are not my Booth".

Jared eyes widened at Temperance's statement.

Brennan gasped slightly as she realised what she just said and immediately began to back-track, "no, no what I meant to say was you're not my partner Booth. Yes, you are not my _partner_".

"Uh huh", Jared mumbled, not really believing what he was being told, as he folded his arms and leaned back from her.

Brennan, for once realising a certain tone a person made when they were disbelieving, fought to defend herself.

"I mean because obviously Booth does not belong to me, no person truly belongs to another person, I believe highly in that Jared. All I meant was that Bones as irritable as it may be, is a nickname that was created by Booth, therefore it is only rather fitting for Seeley Booth and only Seeley Booth to refer to me as Bones…" Temperance rambled trying to remain rational as Jared's eyes bore into her's.

Silence filled the table.

Temperance could almost hear her heart beat wildly in her chest as she tried to analysis what could possibly to flowing in the mind of Jared Booth.

Just when she thought she could take no more, a wide smile cracked his face as he began laughing.

"What is so amusing?" she asked defensively, feeling terribly exposed as he refrained from answering her.

"N-Nothing", he stuttered between laughs.

Brennan could feel her red-blood cells flowing to the surface of her cheeks as she blushed. She felt as if she was being watched under close surveillance as Jared continued to laugh unexplainably.

"Why are you laughing?" she demanded rather then asked as her temper began to rise, she did not like being made a mockery of.

"Oh it's nothing Doctor Brennan. It's just I'm not used to a grown woman defending my brother so determinedly for his use of silly little nicknames", he smirked, his laughter dying in his chest as he saw the look on the woman's face.

"What do you mean?" Temperance asked, almost fearing the answer, however irrational it may be.

Jared, not believing this woman's naivety just had to ask.

"Oh c'mon Doctor Brennan. You didn't really think that you're the only woman Seeley has ever had a nickname for, do you?"

**A/N: Dun, dun, dun!! Ok, I know this chapter is a bit stupid and pointless but it's all I am capable of right now. The buttons keep sticking so I am sorry if there's spelling errors etc. because at the moment I just can't fix them. I promise the next chapter will be better!! Sorry again, -wired2damoon-**


	6. Pinky And The Brain

**Brotherly Love**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 6: Pinky And The Brain**

**A/N: Hey everybody! Again, I'm using this really, really ancient computer so forgive me for any errors, I will fix them as soon as I get my proper computer back! Thankies to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, this is dedicated to all of you guys because you're all so amazing! Enjoy **

–**wired2damoon-**

Temperance Brennan stormed into her apartment, her door swinging widely open and banging harshly against the wall.

She had no idea why she was so irritated; she started feeling this way at the Diner with Jared.

To say the rest of the evening went smoothly would be quite an understatement that much Brennan knew.

She cast her mind back to her evening with Jared Booth and inwardly cringed.

_She knew well she had given him quite the brush-off but she really didn't know how to act around him. She realised pretty quickly that Jared Booth was no Seeley Booth._

_He had this rather irritable habit of talking about himself for long periods of time. Brennan let it slide for the first few minutes as he was going through a hard time due to the hectic case but after a while he began to get rather tedious._

_"So what's the deal with you and my brother?" Jared had asked, mid-way through the conversation of how he was always the boss when it came to him and his little brother._

_"I don't know what you mean", Brennan replied uncomfortably as she began to quietly push her food back and forth with her fork._

_"Oh y'know Temperance, the way you and Seeley are…" Jared continued gesturing to her with his fork, pointing accusatorially at her in little jabs._

_Jab, jab, jab. _

_Brennan found herself glaring at Jared's fork with frosty blue eyes._

_"No I don't know, what way are we?" she asked, her voice utterly defensive._

_She could physically see Jared retract from her, obviously noticing the change in his companion's tone._

_"Oh well you know, the way you fight all the time. I mean I'm only here five minutes and you've already reminded me of my parents, they've been married for forty-three years and still aren't as bad as you two", Jared replied light-heartedly trying desperately to lighten the mood._

_Brennan leaned forward and folded her arms, her nostrils flaring._

_"Oh I see…well, that's just the way Booth and I are. We are nothing like a married-couple however, we are always strictly professional, partners, friends, nothing more", she replied, her tone as convincing as possible the finality obvious._

_Jared nodded his head lightly. No matter how much he tried to refrain himself from doing so he couldn't help but think that Brennan sounded like she was more trying to convince herself and not him._

_"Oh…okay…"_

_There it was again. That little voice (that sounded oddly like Booth) telling Brennan that Jared did not believe her. Not one little bit._

Temperance shook her head vigorously, trying to forget all the doubts that rampaged through her brilliant mind.

Sighing heavily, she trudged towards her couch and plonked down, not caring how ridiculous it looked, but she was alone, nobody would care.

Suddenly she heard a knock at her door.

'So much for being alone' she thought to herself, rolling her eyes towards the ceiling, standing up and walking slowly to her door as if the whole world's weight resided on her shoulders, hoping that the person on the other side of her door was not who she thought it was.

Ever so slowly Brennan reached out and pulled the door-handle towards her and dared to peek her head around to see who her guest was.

'No such luck'…Seeley Booth stood in the doorway, his broad, muscular arms leaning against the doorframe as his head hung low, seemedly unaware that the door had opened.

"Uh…Booth?" Brennan mumbled, not being entirely used to Booth greeting her like this. Usually he was all "charm smiles" and "hey Bones" as cheerfully as he is at Christmas…well, his enjoyable Christmases anyway.

"Oh hi, uh, is Jared here?" Booth asked, barely looking up and he stood continuously motionless.

Temperance frowned at his behaviour but decided to ignore it for now.

"No…he's not. Why would he be?" she asked, the confusion and slight defence evident in her tone.

Booth knew he had to thread carefully.

"Uh, well I just thought that after your date you would invite him back to your place for uh…coffee…" he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck vigorously, knowing he was digging himself a deeper hole.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Brennan asked, her tone definitely defensive now, as she folded her arms and glared at him, completely blocking entrance into her apartment.

Booth merely stood there unable to answer her question so she moved swiftly on.

"First of all, your brother and I were NOT on a date, it was rather immature of you to think otherwise. Secondly I do not like the way you insinuated my usual manners and hospitality when it comes to inviting my dates back for coffee. I may not always comprehend when someone is using innuendo but I understand fully what you meant when you hesitated and find it crude and insulting", Brennan rambled, not caring if Booth failed to keep up with her rant.

Seeley seemed momentarily stunned by Brennan's little speech but could not help a little smile that now graced his face.

"You're right Bones, I was insulting. I apologise. Now are you going to let me in or what?" he asked, his charm-smile appearing out of nowhere and surprising Temperance.

"Why the sudden change of demeanour?" she couldn't help but ask as she was rather puzzled by Booth's sudden change from almost mopey, grumpy man to smiling, charming man in 2.3 seconds.

Not to mention the sudden reappearance of "Bones". Brennan didn't fail to notice that.

"What do you mean Bones?" asked Seeley, tapping his foot impatiently as Brennan still refused entry into her warm apartment.

"What do you mean what do I mean? Now you're all smiling and calling me Bones and such when a mere minute ago you were all down in the trash", Brennan replied matter-of-factly, almost certain she had gotten that particular saying correct.

"It's down in the dumps Bones…and I've no idea what you're talking about." Seeley replied just as confidently, although not feeling it as he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Yes you do Booth! You know well what I am referring to." Brennan almost yelled as she stood aside and let him into her apartment, although she made sure she kept a fair distance from him.

Seeley opened his mouth to speak but Brennan cut across him.

"- Today, you've been…for lack of a better word, different. You were quiet and did not want to join Jared and I at the diner. You called me Brennan, which is something you never do, and just now you greeted me as if I was the person who told you you're favourite basketball team didn't get a touch-town", she continued to rant as she made her way into the kitchen, Booth hot at her heels.

"Okay, first of all, it's score a touch-town and that's in football not in basketball Bones", Booth corrected her, again hiding the smirk that had crept onto his face as he adapted her way of replying.

"Secondly I already told you, I had a lot of work to do so I couldn't come to the Diner tonight, thirdly I didn't realise I called you Brennan, I didn't think it would bother you since you've told me so many times in the past not to call you Bones and lastly, I'm just not in the best of moods right now as I unlike you have not had a pleasant evening", he finished, knowing that he sounded like a cheap imitation of his partner, right down to the insane rambles and slightly longer words. Only slightly though, Booth's vocabulary wasn't quite as vast as the Anthropologist's.

Brennan glared at him, her hands planted firmly on her hips as he finished.

"What other women do you have a nickname for?" she asked suddenly, not caring that her question was completely random and not the best topic for conversation.

Booth's eyebrows rose to his hairline as he heard this.

"What are you talking about Bones? That was a bit Colombo".

"I don't know what that means".

"Colombo Bones. He was an investigator on TV, had a knack for asking weird questions at random. Never mind…anyway what are you talking about? What nicknames? What women?"

Brennan looked away from Booth and folded her arms. Suddenly she wasn't in the mood to explain things to him.

"Never mind…"

"-No, no, no! Don't you try and get out of this Bones! What did you mean?"

"Nothing its just something-"

"-Jared said right?" Booth finished, everything suddenly falling into place.

"Yes", Brennan finished quietly, still refraining from looking at her partner as she wrapped her arms around herself almost protectively.

Booth let out a long sigh before storming over to Brennan's armchair and plonking down heavily.

"It was just this stupid thing I used to do in High School. Whenever I wanted to talk about a girl to my friends or wanted a girl to like me I would christen them with a name only I would call them. It was really stupid and I've no idea why Jared brought it up", he mumbled through his fingers as his hands were now covering his face, his elbows resting on his knees.

Brennan looked slightly put out by his words but pressured him for more information.

"Give me an example".

"What?" asked Booth, jerking suddenly, looking like a rabbit caught in headlights.

"Give me an example of what you would call a girl", Brennan elaborated, hoping that he would.

"Aw Bones I can't really remember now…High School was like a million years ago-"

"Booth, that's impossible. No human being can live for a million years-"

"I know, I know Bones! I was over-reacting alright? Uh…ok…an example", Booth paused for a minute, obviously deep in thought, rubbing his chin deeply.

"Ok, there was this girl I had a major crush on when I was a junior called Jenny Pinkinson. So whenever I would see her I would call her Pinky…" he mumbled, trying to control his blushing as he could feel his face grow red hot.

Brennan's eyes widened in surprise.

"Pinky?" Brennan asked, sounding slightly amused and disgusted at the same time.

"Yeah…and his good ol' pal Brain" Booth joked, smirking slightly as he realised, Jenny was Pinky and Brennan was Brain.

"I don't know what that means."

"Of course you don't, doesn't matter."

"You had a crush on Jenny. So does that mean you would only give a nickname to a girl you have a crush on?" Brennan asked, her voice sounding that of a young child trying to make sense of something.

"Yea-no", Booth stuttered, suddenly realising what he nearly confirmed.

"No…I would just give nickname to some people, not just girls, like my friends too, not…not just girls I liked", he mumbled his eyes darting everywhere, as he again vigorously rubbed the back of his neck.

Temperance cocked her head to one-side as she observed his behaviour. He was obviously uncomfortable having this conversation, she just couldn't understand why.

"I'm making you uncomfortable", she announced as she sat down opposite him on the couch.

"No, no Bones you're not, it's just that High School was so long ago ya know?" Booth replied hurriedly, his hand falling from his neck and clasping together as if in prayer.

The bright blue orbs that were his partner's beautiful eyes followed his every move he noticed, and he gulped under her scrutiny.

"Yes, yes I understand, I'm sorry I questioned you. Jared just made me wonder that's all", Brennan replied, her eyes darting from him as she sat bolt upright on her couch.

"Yeah, that seems to be happening a lot lately", Booth muttered, but it didn't go unheard by Temperance.

"So…did you have a good time with him tonight?" the words flew out of his mouth before he had time to register what had happened.

"Uh, yes, yes I did", Brennan replied, trying to block out the memory of her and Jared's hasty, awkward departure. He had been the gentleman of course; it was she who was uncomfortable.

"Well, what did ya think?" Booth asked, suddenly sitting dead straight on the edge of the chair, merely inches from Temperance's face.

Brennan's breathing hitched slightly at this new occurrence but she mentally slapped herself and wrote off her reaction as "being on edge due to lack of sleep".

Suddenly she felt herself being drawn in by those large, deep chocolate eyes and couldn't help but stare back feverishly, unblinkingly into them.

"He's…not you…" she replied, her words not even registering in her brain and Booth continued to stare into her eyes.

"Well obviously not, we're brothers, not the same person", Booth replied jokingly, and suddenly the connection between them was broken as he wretched his eyes away from her.

Temperance, feeling suddenly lost, frowned and nodded in agreement.

"Of course he isn't. But it is rather regular for two brothers to share similar characteristics, whereas I found hardly any that was common in both you and him, except maybe slight alpha-male tendencies and an overly-large ego", Brennan replied, smirking slightly as she watched Booth's amusing reaction.

"Hey! I resent that! I can't believe-" although Temperance never got to hear what Booth couldn't believe as suddenly there was a loud knocking coming from her door.

Frowning at Booth slightly, realising he would be the only one that would drop by unexpectedly at such a late hour Brennan pondered who on earth it could be.

Booth, instantaneously leaping into Special FBI Agent mode stood up and motioned to Brennan to walk with him towards the door as he kept his hand, itching towards his gun that was concealed under his suit jacket.

He nodded to Brennan as she reached the door that it was okay to open it.

Rolling her eyes at his behaviour Brennan whispered, "Booth honestly do you really think if someone was going to attack me they would knock first?"

Booth glared at her as he hissed, "better safe then sorry Bones!"

Rolling her eyes one last time Brennan reached out and pulled on the door handle, edging the door open slowly.

Peering around the side she noticed that the hall light wasn't on and she could not see her visitor, but it was okay, as soon as they spoke both Brennan and Booth knew exactly who it was.

"Hey Temperance, mind if I come in?"

**A/N: So…who is our mystery guest? Lol not much suspense I know but oh well! Anyways please let me know what ya think, it would be greatly appreciated. Again, thankies to those who have reviewed, it means so much! –wired2damoon-**


	7. FBI Hunk, The Ex And The Love Interest

**Brotherly Love**

**Chapter 7: FBI Hunk, Ex-Lovers And A Possible Love Interest**

**A/N: I'm so sorry for the late update. I just spent the last few days in hospital so no computer-time for me unfortunately! Anyway I'm home now so enjoy! **

**I would like to take this opportunity to give a shout-out to a very clever reviewer BGWGscienceteacher who guessed our mystery guest when I thought I was being all coy! So this chapter is dedicated to you BGWGscienceteacher you clever thing!! -wired2damoon-**

"I believe this is one of those incidents where a person states the clichéd - oh my God…" croaked the stunned Dr. Temperance Brennan as she stood, wide-eyed and open-mouthed at her surprise visitor.

"Yeah it probably is", replied the beaming Tim "Sully" Sullivan as he ran his eyes over the woman who had occupied his thoughts for a long period of time.

"So…can I come in?" Sully continued tenderly, straightening himself, trying to look over Temperance's head and into her apartment.

"Uh…" Brennan mumbled (noticing she was getting rather incoherent) glancing behind her searching for Booth.

Right, left, her eyes darted in search of him, down on the ground, up on the ceiling (okay now she was being ridiculous) but alas Special Agent Seeley Booth was nowhere to be seen.

Utterly bewildered and slightly annoyed that Booth had done a disappearing-act Brennan (muttering an embarrassed apology) motioned wildly for Sully to enter her apartment.

He smiled wryly at her, knowing instinctively that there was something wrong with her, but did not find it suitable to question it as of yet.

"Its nice seeing you again Tempe", Sully smiled, he never wanted as much in his life then embrace another human-being as he did right there, staring into those wonderful blue orbs.

"Its nice seeing you too Sully…would you like something to drink?" Brennan asked distractedly already walking into her kitchen, unaware that Sully was hot on her heels.

"Yes, yeah, that would be great…" Sully muttered in reply. This wasn't exactly the reaction he expected when he returned from a near-two-year-long absence. But, now that he thought about it, anything that Temperance Brennan did never was to be expected.

"Soda, mineral-water, uh…smoothie?" Brennan asked, ducking her head into her fridge to observe it's contents.

"Uh a soda please", he replied nervously, smoothing down his shirt and shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Temperance handed him the soft-drink, trying desperately not to show her nervousness.

She had no clue right at that very moment what to do, say or how to act. She was completely lost (not literally of course but in a figurative sense). Oh how this was the moment she would admit was when she desperately needed Booth!

"Temperance?" Sully questioned as he watched her eyes dart around the room obviously in search of something…

He couldn't help but worry that it was for the best escape-route.

"Look Tempe, I know my being here has come to a shock and all but would you please look at me?" he asked stepping closer to her, to his relief she did not back away.

"I'm sorry Sully. What kind of welcome back greeting am I providing?" Temperance replied, her voice slightly higher then normal as she struggled to calm herself.

"I missed you", Sully blurted suddenly.

Brennan's eyes widened but she remained silent.

"-Terribly. I even considered turning around and heading back to shore the second I began to sail away, convincing myself that I was an idiot", Sully continued, stepping closer and closer at each word.

"I kept asking myself 'am I making the biggest mistake of my life?' But I couldn't come up with an answer right away. So much lay ahead and yet so much lay behind, you can understand my dilemma can't you Temperance?" he asked his unease evident in his tone as he took that one last step towards her.

Brennan did not know what to do.

Her mind was screaming for her to step back and regain her personal space but her heart was screaming to embrace her long-lost…_love? Was it love?_

She shook her head distractedly, trying to banish away those thoughts, but they kept coming back.

_Was Sully what Booth was talking about? She didn't believe in soul mates or love but when Booth described that one time where you have a person that apparently "completes" you that's the person you're meant to be with. Brennan found herself wanting to believe him._

_So…was this it? Was Sully it?_

"Sully I-"

Suddenly there was a loud knock on her door.

Temperance rolled her eyes to the ceiling, irritated by all the interruptions tonight.

"Hold on-" she mumbled before practically storming to her door and flinging it wide open.

"Hey Temperance, I just came here to-"

"Jared hi…" Brennan cut across her new visitor with a fake politeness as she was eerily aware that two pairs of eyes were boring a hole into her. Sully's and Jared's.

"So…who's this?" Sully asked, striding towards the door swiftly and standing behind Brennan with somewhat of an authoritarian pose.

"Oh…uh…this is, Jared, Jared Booth", Temperance mumbled gesturing between the two. "Jared, this is Tim Sullivan".

The two men regarded each other for a moment, before slowly (and briefly) shaking hands as Temperance looked warily on.

"Booth? As in Seeley Booth?" Sully asked as the hand-shake broke, his eyes piercing Jared's.

"Yeah, yeah he's my younger brother. You know him?" Jared inquired as he returned the icy glare.

"Yeah I do. Used to work with him in the FBI", came the curt reply.

Brennan watched the interaction between the two males with vivid interest. This was indeed another wonderful anthropologic observation opportunity.

"Pssst!"

Temperance's head swung around instantaneously at the sound of the hissing noise coming from her bedroom doorway.

Her mouth hung open as she saw that the door was open ajar and the dark, hazel eyes of her partner was staring at her, trying to gain her attention.

"Pssst! Bones!" he hissed as quietly yet demanding as he possibly could.

Brennan bit her lip when she saw him and nodded her head slightly.

"Uh, would you two mind excusing me I won't be a moment…please make yourselves at home", she muttered, remembering to be courteous before darting out of the room like a frightened rabbit.

Both the eyes of her ex-lover and partner's brother followed her out of the room, before sceptically glancing at each other and sitting down… on opposite ends of the sofa.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Brennan almost yelled as she stormed into her bedroom (knocking Booth backwards into the wall in the process), whirling around and slapping him roughly on the arm.

"Oww! What was that for?" Booth asked frowning, rubbing his arm gently where she slapped him.

"Where the hell did you disappear to Houdini?" she asked, folding her arms and not looking a tad remorseful at hurting him.

"Woah…I'm surprised you know who that is", Booth replied, before walking passed her and sitting on her bed.

"Of course I- my dad told me- that doesn't matter! Honestly Booth!" Brennan spat (this time her voice raising a lot) as she pushed him off her bed and onto the floor.

"Shhh! Bones! Your two lovers outside will hear you…" Booth mock-cautioned her, motioning to her door.

She glared down at him, her hands on her hips as he just sat motionless on the floor.

"Booth that isn't funny! They are not my lovers! Well…one of them used to be but now I-"

Booth held his hands up to silence her. "You want to get rid of them?"

Brennan uttered a sigh of relief as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Finally they were getting somewhere!

"Yes! I want to get rid of them! I can't deal with Sully right now, not with everything…and…well your brother is, well, he is-"

"-irritating? Insulting? An ass?" Booth replied helpfully.

Brennan remained silent but her expression told Booth everything he needed to know.

"Well okay then. Let's get rid of some unwanted visitors", Booth smirked, clapping his hands together and jumping up off the floor.

Unfortunately Brennan decided that that would be the precise moment she would spring into action and slammed straight into him, resulting in rather a nasty tangling of limbs as Booth's arms wrapped around Bones' waist to prevent her from falling.

A split second passed and Booth found himself looking down into his partner wonderfully blue eyes for a fraction of a moment.

As the two breathed heavily, their heart beats racing they were temporarily off guard.

"Tempe what-" came the voice from the doorway, the door swinging open revealing two curious men.

"What the hell is going on?" Sully demanded as his view came into focus and he glanced at his ex-lover and former-colleague wrapped around each other.

Booth and Brennan snapped out of their reveries as if been scaled by hot water and began scrambling away from each other.

The two suspicious men in the doorway merely looked on silently as the partners straightened themselves out.

"Uh, hey Sully, Jared", Booth smiled nervously at the two men, taking a large step away from his partner.

"Hi Booth…" Sully replied sceptically his eyes darting from Brennan back to Booth. "Not interrupting anything are we?"

Booth's eyes widened as he practically jumped forward and began exiting Brennan's bedroom, the two men and Bones straight behind him.

"No, we were just talking weren't we Bones?" Booth muttered, rubbing his neck nervously.

For a moment Brennan looked startled but she recovered quickly. "Yes. Case work…Booth was just leaving", she finished, giving her partner a rough shove to the shoulder.

Jared and Sully continued to look upon the two partners that were now hissing at one another by her doorway.

"I can't believe-"

"-Just go-"

"-I thought you wanted to get rid of-"

"-I will"

"How?"

Brennan glared up at Booth for a moment deciding her next course of action, before loudly announcing, "I'm sorry gentlemen but I really would like to be left alone. I am not feeling too well…cramps…"

She couldn't help but smirk at the results she got from the rehearsed statement she heard Angela recite many times.

Booth, Jared and Sully reacted immediately, jumping around and squawking replies to the anthropologist and making their speedy way to the door.

"I'll see ya later Bones…"

"I just wanted to drop off your jacket Temperance".

"Its good seeing you again Tempe. We'll talk soon", Sully mumbled as he exited last, holding onto her hand for a number of seconds.

"See you tomorrow Booth. I must of left it in the diner, thank you Jared. Yeah, soon, its good seeing you too Sully…" Brennan responded all at once whilst smiling slightly.

The three men halted in the doorway and watched intently as Temperance Brennan closed her door with a snap.

They stood awkwardly in the hallway staring at one another. Neither moved first and the air was so thick with tension it could be cut with a knife.

When he couldn't take it any longer Booth broke the silence, "so Sully…how was your trip?"

* * *

Inside her apartment Brennan sat on her floor leaning against her door-frame. Taking a deep breath in, she exhaled heavily and closed her eyes.

What a day this was turning out to be.

* * *

"So they all just showed up at your apartment?"

"Yes. First Booth. Then Sully. Then Jared. It was all rather stressful".

"Of course it was sweetie! I mean having your FBI hunk, past-lover and possible love interest who happens to be related to your FBI hunk all in your apartment at the one time. Woah…I would have so bought a ticket to that orgy", Angela breathed dreamily, biting her lip with glee.

"Ange!"

"Sorry sweetie but you gotta admit, with those three deliciously sexy men after you the possibilities are endless-"

"-Okay first of all, Jared and I have nothing in common, he lives hundreds of miles away and is the brother of my close friend so he is definitely a 'no-possibility'. Second of all Sully, yes, was a lover but I just don't know if I can go back there, I mean what if he sails off again?" Brennan asked to no-one in particular, storming back and forth around her office as Angela on-looked.

"And what about Booth?" Angela asked with a slightly coy smirk gracing her beautiful face.

"What about Booth?" Brennan asked, obviously confused by her friend's line of questioning.

"Is he a 'possibility'?"

"Ange, we've been through this before. Booth and I are just _partners_. Partners who work together, nothing more", Temperance replied, determined that her tone was suitable to get her point across.

Angela was hearing her loud and clear but refused to believe anything that came out of her best friend's mouth when it came to her hot piece of FBI candy.

"How was his mood when he first came in? Ya know, before he hid in your bedroom?" she inquired, trying desperately to hide her ever-growing smirk.

"Well he was all down in the dumpster-"

"Down in the dumps sweetie-"

"Right. Down in the dumps about something I don't know. He starting asking about his brother and did we have fun on our date-"

"-Uh oh…"

"Why uh oh?"

"Booth thought you were on a date with his brother!" Angela exclaimed matter-of-factly.

"So? And I put him straight anyway".

"Doesn't matter sweetie, the shit has hit the fan now…and with Sully back…" she left her words hanging.

"What?" Brennan asked, seeing the obvious unease wash over her friend.

"There's going to be trouble in the water sweetie".

"I don't know what that means".

"Well…you're about to find out…" Angela replied nervously nodding towards Brennan's glass door.

Brennan turned her head and glanced that way.

A pair of grumpy, irritated men were storming towards them at an alarming rate.

Brennan and Angela only had time to share a look of distaste before they heard a familiar, aggravated tone.

"Bones, we need to talk…now!"

**A/N: So…what is the matter with Booth? Humm…could be a number of things! Jared sneaking in on his partner, the return of the dreaded Sully…care to take a guess? Lol! Anywayz thankies to everyone that has reviewed it means so much to me, and well done to BGWGscienceteacher!! **

**-wired2damoon-**


	8. The Return Of The Las Vegas Lovers

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 8: The Return Of The Las Vegas Lovers**

**A/N: Hey everybody, sorry for the long wait I haven't been well, in hospital etc…again…but I'm home now. Only two months left until the most important exams of my life so I have to be studying and stuff too so ya know how it is with having no spare time! Anyway I'll shut up now and just let ya get on with reading the next chapter of Brotherly Love (which incidentally I found out is the name of a TV programme too, weird…)**

The large, rectangular lights flickered eerily as the two partners stood staring at one another.

The room was basked in a clinical glow as the silence lingered on, neither willing to break it.

The dark-chocolate eyes pierced the sky-blue ones intently as the heart pumped painfully in the chest.

Temperance Brennan's eyes darted to every corner of the room as she waited patiently for her companion to say something. She knew not to interrupt the silence, or there would very well be hell to pay.

"Why didn't you tell me Bones? I mean we're supposed to partners!" Seeley Booth suddenly exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air angrily.

Temperance's brow frowned with confusion.

"Booth, what are you talking about?" she mumbled, her eyes following his every move as he paced up and down the Autopsy Room.

"You know well what I'm talking about", Booth retorted, not looking at her once as he continued to pace.

"No, I don't, and I don't see why you had to drag me in here, what's wrong with my office?" she inquired suspiciously.

"Too many ears around".

"I don't know what that means".

Booth rolled his eyes and huffed with anger.

"Look Bones, why the hell didn't you just tell me? I mean why hide it from me? And now with Sully back…"

"-Why does everyone keep saying that? 'And with Sully back…' what the hell does that matter? Yes, Sully is back but I don't have to see what it has to do with anything", Brennan snapped, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at her partner.

"Doesn't have anything to do with…are you crazy? Sully has everything to do with it! I mean how do you think he's going to feel once he finds out that you're dating my brother?" Seeley boomed, turning around so suddenly Temperance marvelled that he didn't get whiplash.

Brennan stood in shock for a moment as she let the words seep into her highly intelligent brain.

_Dating his brother? What was Booth talking about? And more importantly…where did Booth receive this information?_

"Booth I don't know if someone has led you to believe otherwise but I can assure you, as I've said before I am not dating your brother. And even if I was, it would be none of Sully's concern as we are no longer dating", she replied matter-of-factly, her arms moving from being folded to resting firmly on her hips.

Booth blinked fiercely, opening and closing his mouth like a gaping goldfish.

"Not dating my brother? Are you sure? But I thought…you-he-said-" Booth was obviously lost for words at this new information and found that for once he had no idea what to do or say.

"Yes I'm sure! We're not dating, we're just…friends, if you could even call us that. I find him to be rather, irritable, which I've also told you before. Who told you otherwise? Or was it your gut again?" she asked, smirking at her particularly clever dig at Booth's "source of FBI genius".

"Hey, hey, hey, lay off my gut. Obviously it wasn't because my gut's never wrong", Booth replied, his over-confident grin returning to his face as his cockiness shone through his voice.

Brennan rolled her eyes to the Autopsy Room ceiling, noticing that he did not answer he question.

"Booth you didn't answer-"

Booth's cell phone began ringing and he held up his hand to silence her.

Brennan's gaze hardened, she hated when he did that.

"Booth. Yeah…uh-huh, corner of 4th…yeah…ok", he finished closing his phone with a snap.

"We got a witness", he said indefinitely before striding out of the Autopsy Room briskly.

Temperance waited for a moment, pondering her next course of action.

Booth did a double-take. "Well Bones, are you coming or what?"

Brennan jumped slightly and hurried after him.

* * *

"So tell us exactly what you saw", Booth said gently as he stared at the little, old homeless woman that sat opposite he and his partner, looking oddly like a small child in her overly-large coat, mittens and hat.

"Well…it was a young man, in his twenties I'd say…and he was, fighting with someone. Awful things they shouted at each other. I think one may have been an old boss or something because he kept talking about a job and a pick-up. Oh it was horrifying. Three men came out of nowhere then and…well…he wasn't standing when they were done with him", she finished, her voice nearly as tiny as she was, her large beetle-like eyes glimmering with tears.

Brennan and Booth glanced at each other and the scientist passed the old woman a glass and a jug of water tenderly.

"Is that all you saw Mrs…?"

"Oh, please call me Deana dear, I haven't been a Mrs in such a long time. Yes that is all I saw. Oh I hope that poor boy is okay, he was such a nice lad too, he gave me an old blanket one night to keep the cold out", Deana continued fondly, stroking her glass for a moment.

"Actually he's dea-"

Booth gave Brennan a look to silence her.

She closed her mouth obediently as the feeble woman looked from one person to the other.

"Thank you for all your co-operation Deana. We'll be in touch if we need another statement…we can ascort you out if you want. Bring you wherever you want to go…" he added politely, desperate to help the old woman.

She waved her hand dismissively at him.

"Now you will do no such thing. You two have been so nice and polite to me and that's all I ask. Thank you for that. You really are the nicest couple I have ever met", she replied, beaming at them and winking before walking to the door.

"We're not a couple", Booth and Brennan replied loudly in unison but Deana merely smirked and gave a little jerk of her head that suggested she was saying "if you say so…"

The two partners gaped at the space that no longer contained the feeble, old woman for a moment, before awkwardly turning to look at one another.

Booth cleared his throat roughly.

"So…looks like Mike's lil bro got caught up in a drugs sandal".

Brennan frowned.

"How to you know that?"

"C'mon Bones, a job, a pick-up? He was obviously trafficking drugs…"

"And that would be your gut telling you that?" Brennan asked, a wide, knowing smirk gracing her face.

Booth leaned forward suddenly and his nose lay a mere inch away from Brennan.

Several seconds (or perhaps years) passed with the two partners' eyes locking, unblinking at each other before he replied, "yes Bones, and my gut is never wrong", an even bigger grin beginning to form on his handsome face.

Brennan's heart quickened (probably due to the adrenaline of the case she thought) as Booth continued to stare at her with such intensity.

She opened her mouth and responded, "yes your gut does have quite the track record".

"That it does Bones…that it does…" Booth laughed and moved away from her slightly, Brennan's heart panged, (-due to…something…she just couldn't think what at present) as she moved away too.

Standing up Booth made his way over to the door, before exiting he turned and took one last look at his beautiful partner.

"So Bones…how do you feel about playing a little dress-up?"

Brennan frowned deeply, she didn't have to say it, he already knew she didn't know what that meant.

"We're going under-cover", he explained and had a look on his face similar to a child's at Christmas. "I think its time Roxie and Tony came back for round two".

**A/N: Ahh! Roxie and Tony are back!! Yay!! Should be interesting eh?? Please let me know what you thought!! Thankies to everyone who has so far- you guys are brilliant!! -wired2damoon-**


	9. Thai Food And Terrorists

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 9: Thai Food and Terrorists**

**A:N THE PREVIOUS 8 CHAPTERS HAVE BEEN VERY SUBTLY EDITED TO TIE INTO THE RECENT EVENTS OF SEASON 3, THEREFORE THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FROM NOW ON. FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY READ THESE CHAPTERS, I DON'T FIND IT A MAJOR NECESSITY TO RE-READ (AS THEY ARE ONLY VERY SMALL CHANGES) BUT YOU CAN IF YOU WISH.**

**Okay, technically I'm breaking the rules as I promised my mother (I am only 17 folks and still live under her roof) that I wouldn't update any of my stories (that includes both fan fiction and my own original work) until my exams are over. Now seen as they haven't even started I'd like to point out that I'm quite literally risking my life (and important study-time) for my reviewers, so feel special people lol **

**I know in the first chapter it says "set sometime at the end of season 3" but I am now officially changing that from now on. It is now based early season 4.**

**Hope that's okay with everyone again, thankies to my reviewers especially B&Bforever for her amazing reviews, but of course I love each and every one of you…okay…that was such a Barney the dinosaur moment…cough moving on…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bones, yada yada yada, if I did, Booth's ass would be mine and I'd have sunk Sully's ship…**

"Brennan", the anthropologist muttered into her phone as she sat comfortably on her living room couch frowning at her computer screen. The Kathy and Andy sex scene just didn't sound right as she read it over and over in her head…

"Hey Temperance, is this a good time?" came the sweet, subtle tone of her ex-boyfriend-Sully.

_Typical! Just as I'm writing a steamy scene between my anthropologist and her FBI lover, my ex-FBI lover decides to call me…_Temperance thought to herself as she began to form a response.

"Hi Sully, I am just in the middle of some writing but I can spare a few minutes…" Temperance replied, feeling a tad nervous as she heard him chuckle quietly.

"Same ol' Tempe, hard at work…" he responded affectionately, his teasing smirk evident even over the phone.

Hoping she did not sound rude Temperance spoke again, "sorry Sully, was there something you wanted to talk about? Its just that I do have a lot of work to do…"

As she trailed off she instantly knew how that must of sounded to the man that just spent nearly two years away from her and was desperately seeking contact but it was too late to take it back.

"Uh…right…sorry…" he mumbled, sounding utterly uncomfortable and slightly hurt, "I was just wondering if you were interested in meeting up soon, you know to…catch up?" he finished hurriedly, his voice half an octave higher then normal, Temperance noticed.

Her frown deepened at these words.

She could not decide if she was ready for this.

When Sully left she was deeply wounded, and she did not desire to end up like that again.

Was she ready to bring up the past and be potentially hurt once more?

Fortunately she did not have to answer her own question as suddenly a knock sounded from her doorway.

"I'm sorry Sully, someone has just arrived at my door. Would I be able to call you back tomorrow? I don't know how long they'll be here and I don't want to keep you too late…" she trailed off feebly, hoping her pathetic attempt to end the awkward conversation would stick.

"Uh…sure Temperance, that's fine…I'll talk to you tomorrow then", Sully replied awkwardly yet still firmly enough to put his point across that he would most definitely converse with her tomorrow, one way or another.

"Bye", she muttered abruptly, before snapping her phone shut, setting her lap-top aside and standing up, creeping closer to her front door to peer out her peep-hole and into the hallway.

There, standing idily in the hallway, unaware that he was being watched, stood her partner, Special Agent Seeley Booth, holding what appeared to be too large paper bags.

Rolling her eyes to the ceiling (but still allowing herself a small smile) Temperance unlocked her door and held half open for her partner to step inside.

"Booth, its mid-night, what are you doing here?" she asked in mock-annoyance as her partner stood gawking at her.

Unbeknownst to her, her partner eyes were now drinking in every inch of her as she stood facing him, her hands on her hips.

"Hey Bones, its nice to see you too." Booth replied sarcastically, shaking his head slightly as he took in her appearance, amazed at the fact that even though she was wearing baggy pyjama bottoms, a plain black t-shirt, fluffy slippers with her hair pulled back into a messy pony-tail she still managing to look extremely adorable.

Brennan, who had now just remembered her attire, folded her arms tightly across her chest, before turning on her heel and making her way over to her couch (were she retrieved a long, black cotton cardigan) and draped it over herself.

Smirking at her reaction, Booth just closed the door and started making his way to the kitchen, calling over his shoulder, "I brought Thai food…"

"Isn't it a little late to eat Thai Booth?" Brennan asked, following him as he began to lay out plates and glasses for them, banishing a six-pack of beer in her face.

"Bones! It's a Saturday night, we're not working tomorrow, we deserve a break before we start our undercover assignment and its never, never to late for Thai food!" Booth laughed, edging the food towards her before beginning to wolf down his.

Brennan stared at him for a moment, a million thoughts racing through her genius mind.

One caught her attention and she was desperate to share it with her partner.

Suddenly, she broke open a bottle of beer and took a large gulp.

Booth regarded her with confusion for a moment but before he could question her strange action she interrupted him.

"I think Sully wants us to get back together…"

Booth's mouth dropped open…

* * *

Jared Booth sighed deeply as he made his way back to his motel room.

It had been one, long, crazy day.

It was one thing to start off the morning with a younger brother insanely pissed off with you for hitting on his so-called "just partner" but it was another thing to get the cold-shoulder for the rest of the day.

He just didn't know what Seeley's problem was. Well, he did, but that didn't mean it irritated him less.

So he may have said that they went on a date, that was technically true, mostly, they had had coffee. Maybe it wasn't a date in Dr. Brennan's eyes but he thought it might have led somewhere…unfortunately it didn't.

This of course made Jared's day a little bit worse.

It seemed after Seeley dragged his partner away to talk in the Autopsy Room Dr. Brennan assured him that she was not dating Jared, nor would she ever.

That was a major bummer, that and the addition of Brennan's ex-lover, this Sully guy. Seeley told him briefly of their history.

It was typical really, man meets woman, man falls for woman, asks her out, they date for a while, have things in common, have great sex, then man decides to leave on a sailboat to the Caribbean…okay so maybe the last bit wasn't that typical but Jared couldn't see why Sully's sudden return mattered that much.

It certainly mattered to his little brother. Jared remembered with a smirk, his brother's face as he saw Sully in Brennan's apartment.

He could always tell when Seeley did not like another human being, but with regards to Sully this was different. It wasn't that he didn't like this Sully character, it was something else entirely…

Something Jared believed had something to do with the good Dr. Brennan.

Jared Booth hadn't quite figured out his brother and his beautiful partner yet, there was definitely something there between them, that much was obvious.

This Sully guy was a problem though, he realised.

As he heaved a deep sigh and sat down on the large, lumpy hotel bed, running his hands through his hair, he made a decision.

He was, by any means going to find out what was going on between his brother and his partner if it was the last thing he did.

And if this Sully guy tried to screw anything up, he would have to go through him.

A swell of something like pride, admiration or sheer love for his brother flowed through him.

He knew Seeley had had a difficult life. With gambling problems, army-horrors, and having a child out of wedlock when your family were strict Catholics…

He Jared, had the opposite.

He felt guilty for that. He was the over-achiever and Seeley never quite matched up.

Suddenly he felt extremely ashamed of himself for trying to date Seeley's partner. He knew he never had a chance with her in the first place, but you can't always blame a guy for trying can you?

Deciding that it was best to leave her alone from now on, and let his brother sort out what ever was going on between them (with maybe a little push in the right direction from his older and wiser brother) once and for all.

Sitting up he crossed the room and began to change for bed.

Just as he was pulling off his shoes a loud knock came from the motel door.

"Who is it?" he called out. When no-one replied and the knocking grew louder and more persistent, Jared rolled his eyes and crossed the room, unlocking the door and swinging it wide open.

His eyes bulged as he saw three large men dressed in all black, wearing balaclavas and banishing large 32 calibre guns, standing in the hallway.

He barely had time to give a strangled yell before several hands reached forward and grabbed him roughly by the shirt and dragging him out of the motel and into the engulfing darkness, three large pistols digging menacingly into his back…

**A/N: So what do you think? Please let me know by pressing the cute, little purple button. **


	10. Lotions and Potions

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 10: Lotions and Potions**

**A/N:I AM SO SORRY FOR THE CHAPTER MIX-UPS! PLEASE FORGIVE ME, I WAS RE-POSTING EDITED CHAPTERS LATE LAST NIGHT AND THINGS JUST WENT ALL CRAZY ON ME AND I DIDN'T REALISE MY MISTAKES! THANKIES FOR THOSE WHO INFORMED ME, I ASSURE YOU, THE PROBLEMS ARE ALL FIXED NOW **

**AND AS A THANK YOU FOR BEING SO PATIENT WITH ME I'VE DECIDED TO RISK MY LIFE (AND MY GRADES) YET AGAIN TO DELIVER YOU ANOTHER CHAPTER. ENJOY XX**

"It's completely natural Booth-"

"-I don't care Bones, just drop it!"

"I think Dr. Sweets would find it extremely interesting that you're reluctant to-"

"-Don't you even think about bringing this up with Sweets Bones!"

"But how else are we supposed evolve as partners if we don't address these issues?"

"I don't know about you Bones but I don't have any issues…"

"Booth, you shot a clown".

"A toy clown, it wasn't a real clown! And that's since been resolved…"

"Yes well your reluctance to talk about sex hasn't-"

"-I'm not talking about this anymore Bones okay? End of story."

There was a shot pause when the two partners each let out a deep, irritated sigh.

Brennan clasped her hands together and looked around the waiting room as if pondering and Booth flicked angrily through a magazine (that he didn't understand at all) and huffed and puffed loudly.

"So what is it that bothers you most about sex exactly?" Brennan asked suddenly.

"Oh god."

"I mean you seem to have no problem doing it, just you seem so uncomfortable about talking about it. Has it something to do with your Catholic background?"

"Don't even start ragging on my religion again Bones I am not in the mood. Just let it go!"

"But I think if you just told Dr. Sweets, he might be-"

"No. No Sweets."

"Why?"

"Because he's twelve! The closest he's probably had to the real thing is an experiment with a blow up doll. He's wouldn't know the first thing about having, you know-"

"Sex?" Brennan finished, a little loudly in Booth's opinion.

"Will you keep your voice down?!" Booth hissed through gritted teeth, looking around himself nervously, trying desperately to get her to shut up, she was beginning to draw attention of Sweets' noisy secretary.

"I just don't see why its such a problem Booth-I told you about my sexual conquests…"

Booth shifted in the chair uncomfortably as he cast his mind back to the night before when his partner proceeded to tell him all about her and Sully's… 'romantic liaisons'.

"Yeah Bones I remember…" he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck, willing desperately for the redness that had now crept up his neck would disappear.

"You know, if you're having trouble with sexual intercourse you could always get some help, you know to help you perform in the bedroom. They have lots of remedies, oils, lotions, even audio/visual demonstrations and books about positions and how to help stimulate-"

"-BONES!" Booth practically roared, he really couldn't believe they were talking about this at all, never mind the fact that they were in the middle of their shrink's waiting room.

"Enough! I don't want to talk about it anymore! My performance in the bedroom is perfectly fine thank you very much. I don't need any lotions or potions or…_demonstrations_ to help stimulate anything, so just knock it off!" Booth yelled, unbeknownst to the fact that during this rant, Dr. Sweets had come out of his office and was now standing behind him, having heard every word.

"Well that's all very good to hear Agent Booth, but if you don't mind I'd like to start our session…" came the highly amused tone of the young psychiatrist.

Booth jumped up off the couch and began to fidget nervously as his partner stood also and began walking in through the office doorway where Sweets stood.

Seeing the Agent's obvious discomfort Sweets smirked, "Agent Booth, would you like to join us?" he asked, gesturing to his office where Brennan had already sat down.

Rolling his eyes Booth trudged into the office, trying frantically to forget the awkward outburst he just had.

When they'd all settled, (Booth ignoring Brennan's presence) Sweets began to speak.

"Now…lets bring up the issue of your under-cover assignment. Tell me about Tony and Roxie".

* * *

"Well that was a complete waste of time!" Special Agent Seeley Booth huffed as he started up his black SUV angrily.

"Not entirely Booth. Sweets already knew about the case, he could help us with characterisation…" Brennan replied surprising herself with her own words.

"I thought you didn't believe in Sweets and his 'profiling'," Booth scoffed, taking his eyes off the road momentarily to gap in wonderment at his partner.

Brennan shook her head, "I don't. In my opinion its all just guess-work and chance, but in this case, Roxie and Tony are fictional characters and need certain identities, Sweets, is a profiler and supposedly knows what type of personality people have and their reactions to the world and I am an award-winning novelist, so together we could create two people entirely plausible and realistic."

Booth considered this for a moment. She was right, of course, as always, but he'd never admit that.

This was going to be one, long, tedious case…

Brennan had gone quiet for a moment after she had finished convincing him of the benefits of Sweets being on board their case.

Booth was just about to question her silence when she broke it.

"Booth, can I ask you something?"

"If its about you know- _it_ - then no…"

"Its not about sex."

"Then fire away Bones."

"You know well I don't have a gun Booth!"

Booth rolled his eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"It means go ahead and ask me whatever you want to ask me".

"Oh...okay. Uh…do you think I should get back together with Sully?"

Booth's hand jerked on the steering wheel and the vehicle swerved widely.

"BOOTH!" Brennan exclaimed in alarm, gripping the dashboard tightly.

"Sorry, sorry, I thought I saw a cat…" Booth mumbled as his partner's stare bore into him.

A few moments passed in utter silence before they stopped at traffic lights.

Brennan took a deep breath and asked whilst looking out the window, "well…do you?"

Booth tapped his hand on the wheel loudly, screaming in his head for the light to turn green.

How the hell was he supposed to get out of this one?

**A/N: Dun dun dun! What on earth will Booth do? What will he say? All will be revealed in the next chapter, also, we find out what happened to Jared, Booth will be notified of his brother's disappearance AND Tony and Roxie make a very interesting appearance at a nightclub… So stay tuned! wired2damoon xx**


	11. Love, Faith And The One

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 11: Love, Faith And "The One"**

**A/N: Okay, so I'm getting a little addicted to writing this story, I admit it. But I have some down time before my 'study-buddy' gets here so I'm typing this chappy extra fast as its considerably longer then the others, enjoy!! **

**-wired2damoon-**

"Hey Tempe, thanks for coming," smiled Tim "Sully" Sullivan as he saw the radiant beauty that was Temperance Brennan walking towards his table.

Brennan smiled softly at him, but her eyes were now darting to where he was sitting.

In the diner, at her and Booth's table.

"Uh Sully, could we maybe sit at a different table?" Brennan asked lightly, completely ignoring her 'rational' brain that was telling her that a table was a table and it didn't matter where they sat.

For no matter how much she tried to ignore it, it did matter to her, a lot.

"Sure…" Sully replied, jumping up out of his seat as if scalded and making his way towards a table up the front of the diner.

"That better?" he asked, his voice slightly high-pitched, his hand reaching up to loosen his tie considerably.

Brennan's piercing blue eyes followed his every move with caution, getting clouded with confusion at his odd actions.

"Sully are you okay?" she asked quietly as his continued to fidget.

The man opposite her flashed her a wide smile suddenly and his hand reached out to clasp her's over the table. "Never better," he murmured.

Brennan looked down at their intertwined hands with interest. It felt…different then when he held her hand two years ago. Something was…missing…

"So…tell me about your trip", she said quite stiffly, removing her hand from underneath his to 'craftily' pick up a menu.

Sully, having noticed this, frowned for a moment (as she could have easily picked up the menu with her other hand) before plastering on his fake smile and saying cheerily, "oh it was great, the Caribbean is really beautiful Tempe".

Brennan nodded robotically, as her eyes stared at the menu, not really reading it.

She couldn't help but cast her mind back to the conversation she and Booth had the night before.

_-Flashback-_

"_You still haven't answered my question Booth…" Temperance Brennan murmured as the sat at their table at the diner, waiting for their food._

_Booth's eyes darted to the window for a moment and he looked quite pensive, his expression conveying as if he was having an argument with himself in his head._

"_Do I think you should get back together with Sully?" he asked, hoping that he sounded braver then he felt._

"_Yes", Brennan replied confirming the question, trying and failing to catch his gaze._

_Booth heaved a deep sigh and replied almost inaudibly (so much so that Brennan had to lean forward to hear him) "its not really up to me Bones, its your decision."_

_Brennan bit her lip as she heard this._

_This was definitely not what she wanted to hear._

_True, she didn't entirely know what 'it' was exactly that she wanted to hear, but it certainly wasn't that._

_Anger flowed through her, seeping dangerously to the surface._

"_I'm asking you Booth, as a friend to give me some advice about what I should do and the best you can come up with is that?" she hissed, leaning forward so that she was nearly half sprawled across the table._

_Booth, who seemed to notice her sudden movements, grimaced a little but still looked out the window as he spoke._

"_Maybe it's Angela you should talk about this with Bones…not me…"_

_Brennan closed her eyes to calm herself. After a moment she opened them and took a deep breath._

"_But it isn't Angela I'm asking now Booth, I want to know what you think"._

_Something changed in Seeley Booth's face as he heard those words leave her mouth. His expression grew dark, hardened, his jaw set._

_He whiled around to face her suddenly, and his dark-chocolate eyes pierced her's with an alarming glare._

"_Fine! You want to know what I think? I think-"_

_Suddenly he was cut off by the arrival of their food._

_Brennan leaned back from the table to let the waitress place her food on front of her._

_Booth it seemed, was trying to calm his rapid breathing and immediately began to eat just for something to do._

_Brennan surveyed him for a moment over her coffee cup, wondering (but not wanting to pressure him) what he was going to say._

_Her partner lay down his fork after a few moments and sighed again, although this time it sounded more defeated then aggravated._

"_Look Bones, it's like I said, it doesn't really matter what I think, it's your life and you're a strong, independent woman who doesn't need anyone to make her decisions for her…" he mumbled, picking up his fork and piercing his slice of apple pie antagonising slow._

_Brennan considered these words for a moment. He was right of course, she was an independent woman, and she had made decisions like this before on her own. _

_Why was it now that she seemed to run everything by her partner? _

_What had changed?_

_Why was it any of his concern?_

_These were questions that flowed through her mind as they sat in silence._

_Why was it suddenly so important to her that Booth have an opinion on her life?_

_It always bothered her before when Booth butted in…didn't it?_

_Why was she suddenly so desperate to hear what he thought?_

_Why were things different now?_

_As Brennan looked across at her partner, his eyes locked on his coffee cup, she was well aware why…_

_He was her partner. She cared about him, a lot. Over the last near-four years they had been through so much together, pain, grief, sadness, near-death-experiences, suffering, heart-ache, betrayal, more near-death-experiences…_

_Suddenly she was snapped out of her reverie as Booth began to speak again, this time his voice sounding a bit more confident._

"_Look, Bones, if its that important to you, I'll let you know what I think…"_

_Brennan nodded encouragingly, suddenly eager to hear what he had to say._

_He leaned forward across the table, resting his elbows, his nose mere inches from her's, his chocolate eyes piercing her bright blue one's as he spoke softly to her._

"_I think, that in life we have to make choices, choices that aren't always easy to make. Sometimes we get things, situations thrown at us that we aren't entirely ready for and then sometimes we're left hanging around, wondering when or if something is ever going to happen. You don't want a life like that Temperance. You don't want a life were you're constantly waiting around for something to happen but when it does you're stumped on what you should do. You wanna know what I think? I think you use this opportunity with Sully to make something happen. Be in the moment, not waiting around for next time because there might not ever be a next time. There's only one thing to consider though and it's like I said, the only way you can truly know if you're doing the right thing, taking the right opportunity is if you listen to you heart Bones. I know you're a head person but just, just this once, listen to what you're heart is trying to tell you…is Sully the one that you want? Do you want a relationship with him, do you want to be back where you were two years ago? Because if it is…then…yeah… you should get back together with him…"_

_Brennan's heart lurched._

_As Booth trailed off, his eyes having darted away from her's to take a sip of his coffee, Brennan's breathing almost ceased._

_How could he make her have such a reaction with just his words?_

_Having taking a moment to process his words Brennan found herself still wanting to ask him something, something that she knew if she didn't ask him, she may very well regret it._

"_Do you believe in love Booth?"_

_Booth seemed to still, tense at her words. His eyes became unfocused as he stared at some far away object over Brennan's head._

"_Yeah, yeah I do…you don't I get it…" he murmured stiffly taking another bite of his pie._

"_Do you believe that there's a person out there for everyone?"_

_Booth closed his eyes for a fraction of a second and replied softly, "yes, yes I do…"_

_Brennan's breath hitched slightly as she heard this, but she still had to ask him one more thing._

"_And do you think Sully's the one for me?"_

_Booth's gaze snapped up to meet her's. A moment's silence passed as the two partners stared softly at each other, a million thoughts flowing through their brains._

_Suddenly Booth leaned forward and again his face was mere inches away from her's as he asked so softly, his breath tickling her cheek._

"_Do you?"_

_-End Flashback-_

Brennan nodded as Sully continued to tell her about his time in the Caribbean, but her thoughts were otherwise occupied by what Booth had said to her last night.

Everything he said was so…well, she didn't really know how to express it but, she knew what he meant about taking opportunities.

The only problem was she wasn't able to answer him last night when he asked did she think Sully was the man for her.

She always said that she didn't believe in love, faith or a 'one'…

Faith, that was just an allusion set by religions to give people a false sense of security in their respected Gods.

A 'one' seemed highly miscalculated as there are six billion people in the world, surely there's more then just one person out there for another person?

And as for love, well, that was merely a high level of dopamine and various hormones intruding the brain giving a sense of false happiness…

They were Temperance Brennan's arguments on those topics…at least they used to be, until she started to feel things differently, her mind, her…heart changed over the years due to a certain someone's input. A certain someone that was probably hauled up in the J. Edgar Hoover Building behind his desk doing paper-work when he should be sitting here, opposite her, eating lunch, except she would never, never admit that she thought such a thing.

It was irrational, illogical, and just plain wrong, they were partners, nothing more…

She contemplated now however, as she gazed at the man sitting opposite her, that no matter how much she tried to fool herself into thinking otherwise about her partner, she knew she couldn't do the opposite with Sully.

She had made up her mind. Or as Booth would say, her heart had made up her mind.

Taking a deep breath, she smiled at her companion before starting probably one of the hardest speeches she would ever have in her life…

"Sully we need to talk…"

* * *

Temperance Brennan heaved a deep sigh and closed her eyes, resting her head against the back of her office chair.

It had been one, long, day…

"Hey sweetie I was just wondering if-"

Angela stopped abruptly in her tracks as she glanced over at her friend who was sitting quietly, eyes closed in her office chair.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" she asked, her voice filled with concern, making her way over to her friend and kneeling beside her chair.

Temperance bit her lip, her eyes still closed.

"Is it all the stress with the Grad students hunny? I know how you feel, its just not the same without…Zack…" Angela mumbled sadly, stroking her friend's arm with care.

At the mention of her former grad-student and fellow anthropologist Brennan bit her lip even harder and her voice shook as she replied, "n-no…no it's, it's not about Zack…"

Angela looked deeply apologetic, "oh I'm sorry sweetie, I just assumed…wait, has this something to do with Booth?"

Brennan's eyes snapped open and she looked down at Angela who still kneeled by her chair.

"Why do you say that Ange?" she asked, her voice slightly higher then normal.

"Well…I don't know…I just had a feeling…" she murmured in reply, although Brennan could now see a little smirk poking through her 'serious' expression.

"So…is it about our sexy FBI candy?" she asked, her smirk transforming into a full blown smile.

Brennan in spite of herself couldn't refrain from laughing lightly.

"Ange! Don't call him that! And no, it's not…I…I went to see Sully today…" she mumbled, straightening up in her chair slightly as a look of understanding passed over Angela's face.

"Oh Bren…how did it go?" she asked, managing to sound excited, worried, apprehensive and utterly impatient all at once.

"Well…I told him that I, I wasn't ready to be back in a relationship, and that maybe, it would be better, if we-we just stayed friends…" Brennan muttered, not looking her friend in the eye.

Angela sat back onto her knees and let out a big breath.

"And how did he take it?"

Brennan looked at her for a moment before replying, "well…he-he told me that he was planning on going back to the Caribbean if he had no reason to stay here…"

"And that reason would have been you?" Angela asked, although her tone almost confirmed it.

"Yes.." Temperance replied folding her arms nervously, "he sails back on Saturday…"

"But isn't Saturday when you and Booth are on that case thing?" Angela asked, not knowing the full details of it.

"Yes, so I won't be able to see him off…this time…"

Angela nodded her head several times before standing up and patting Brennan's arms.

"You know sweetie, I am totally with you on this one, but I still think you should change your opinion when it comes to Booth…I mean he's just like a big bowl of chocolate ice-cream, you could lick all over. The taste would be so amazing and sweet and-"

"Are you talking about Booth or the ice-cream?" Brennan interjected with a small smile on her face.

Angela paused for a moment to ponder it, "I don't even know anymore sweetie…"

The two friends laughed heartily, Brennan reaching forward and giving Angela a hug, she was just what she needed right now…

Breaking apart Angela realised Brennan's phone was ringing.

Pointing to it she said, "you might want to answer that, I have a feeling it's our very own knight in shinning FBI standard issue body armour".

Brennan rolled her eyes to the ceiling before picking up her phone.

"Brennan".

"Bones, it's me…"

Temperance frowned as she heard the urgency in his voice.

"Booth what's-"

"-They've taken him, he's gone!"

"What? Booth what're you-"

"-The people involved in the case, the guys that probably took Mike, they've taken him, they've taken my brother!"

Temperance gasped as Angela eyes bulged with shock, having heard what Booth said.

"Booth where are you?"

"On my way back to my apartment…"

"I'll meet you there in ten minutes", she replied before snapping her phone shut.

"Bren what-"

"I gotta go," she almost yelled, jumping out of her chair and bolting for the door.

Angela watched in awe as she departed at record-speed.

This was turning out to be one hell of a case…

* * *

The first thing he felt when he started to come around was the major pain in his head.

Then, he started to realise other things.

One, there was something stuffed in his mouth.

Two, he arms were tied behind his back and his legs were tied to the chair.

Three, he was blinded-folded.

And four, he could hear voices…one of which he'd recognise anywhere.

"Mike?" he croaked, turning to his left.

"Jared, my man, nice of you to join us…" replied his so-called friend, the sneer evident in his tone.

Jared's heart panged.

This was not happening, this was so not happening…it was a dream…no, it was a nightmare…

**A/N: Okay so I decided to leave the Tony+Roxie thing until the next chapter because it was getting rather big. So that's next. Hope you enjoyed! Reviews are love xx**


	12. Packing Up And Checking In

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 12: Packing Up And Checking In**

**A/N: Okay folks, I'm finished my exams…(well nearly, just one more to go, on Tuesday 17th) so I decided to update. Some Tony/Roxie action for you now my sweeties!**

**Disclaimer: If Bones was mine, trust me I'd have Brennan removing Booth's shinning FBI standard issue body armour. Seeing as he is still fully clothed, you can conclude I do not own any of Bones. Only the plot is mine and of course the OCs. **

Heaving a shaky sigh, Temperance Brennan raised an equally shaky hand to the door and knocked lightly, twice.

Trying to compose herself (as she was breathing heavily from running all the way from the car) she ran a palm across her forehead and willed desperately for her partner to open his door.

After waiting another beat and with still no FBI agent opening his door, Brennan leaned up to the doorframe and began fishing for the spare key.

Smirking slightly as her hand clasped around the silver key she couldn't help but roll her eyes. First she found his key under a fake rock and now on the door-frame? Booth would really have to think outside box when it came to spare key hiding-places.

Gripping the key in her hand she slipped it into the key-hole and turned the door handle gently.

The door creaked softly as she pushed it slightly agar, her sea-blue eyes squinting in the dim light.

"Booth?" she called, reminding herself that she should announce her presence, remembering the last time she just stormed into her partner's apartment, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Booth its me…I-I knocked but there was no-"

Brennan stopped talking abruptly as she realised that his leaving room was entirely empty.

Frowning to herself she began walking across the room towards the kitchen.

"Booth? Where are you?"

She entered the kitchen and found it too to be empty.

"Booth where-" suddenly a loud thump omitted throughout the apartment.

Turning sharply, her senses heightened, Brennan raced back into the living room and towards the noise, grabbing a fire poker as she did so.

Her mind began to overflow frantically with possibilities. _Where the hell was Booth? Did he make that noise or was it an intruder? Was he hurt? Did he need help? She just had to make sure…_

As she made her way to what she knew as Booth's bedroom door, her heart couldn't help but race.

Gripping the poker in her right hand, she pushed open the door with her left, making it bang against the wall loudly and startle the figure who was standing by the bed violently.

"What the-" they began to yell but Brennan had already bounded into the room, the poker held high at her side.

Swinging around, Seeley Booth withdrew his gun and aimed it menacingly in front of him.

His chocolate-brown eyes searched desperately in the dim darkness and he let out a hiss of annoyance as he was met by the wild-looking, heavy-breathing Temperance Brennan, brandishing what looked like his fire poker in her hand.

"Geez Bones! You nearly gave me a heart-attack! What the hell are you doing? I nearly shot you!" he yelled angrily lowering his gun and glaring at her pointedly.

Temperance, who still had the poker raised, glared right back.

"I was coming in here to check on you! You didn't answer your door so I let myself in, then, I couldn't find you anywhere in the apartment, I was calling your name but you still didn't answer and then I heard a loud noise coming from in here and I didn't know what to think", she snapped, letting the poker fall to the floor as anger surged through her.

The two partners stood in the darkened bedroom, glaring into each other's hardened gazes, each feeling a little on edge and rather foolish.

Booth looked as if he was about to attempt to step closer to Brennan before re-thinking it and muttering, "well I'm fine, just…I'm just doing a bit of packing…" as he tore his eyes from her's and turned back to the bed.

Finally, Temperance saw the source of the loud noise, a suitcase with various items strewn about lay hazzardly on the bedroom floor.

"Packing? For what?" she asked, trying to keep her voice level as she attempted to calm herself.

"We're leaving early Bones…we have to stop by your place when we're done here…" he mumbled, not turning to face her, although she could see his shoulders slump even in the impending darkness.

"Okay, sure, I understand…" she replied softly, all anger now evaporated from her as she remembered the fate of her partner's brother.

"I'm just finishing up here, then…we'll be ready to go…" he sighed, leaning forward and gathering up his belongings from the floor.

Temperance jumped forward suddenly. "Let me help you…"

Her hands reached out to catch the other end of the suitcase before he had time to argue.

Booth glanced at her sideways for a moment as she began re-folding his clothes and placing them neatly into the case. He frowned deeply, pondering her actions, knowing that she had never helped him with such things before…he was grateful…

"Thanks Bones…" he murmured, looking away.

Catching his quiet murmur of gratitude, Brennan merely shrugged and kept working, trying desperately to ignore how close they were standing and how often their hands seemed to touch as they gathered up the belongings on the bed.

* * *

"Nearly ready Bones, we really need to get going. I've already talked to Cullen and it's a four hour drive and-"

"-Booth, I'm ready…" Brennan interjected in a calm, quiet voice, as she walked into the room hearing the impatience in her partner's tone. She couldn't say she blamed him.

Booth merely nodded in reply, he seemed unable to verbally reply, as he stood their gawking at her.

Brennan was now wearing the little black dress he had bought for her when they visited Las Vegas two years ago.

Booth's eyes travelled up and down for a moment, before he caught himself and cleared his throat roughly, trying to get himself focused on the day ahead and not how utterly hot his partner looked in the dress he had bought for her.

Dragging his eyes away from what was the creamy flesh just visible above the black material covering his breasts he turned and picked up her suitcase (ignoring her protests) and walking out the door without a backwards glance.

Brennan frowned deeply at her partner's behaviour. He seemed awkward, agitated, nervous…

She was worried about what type of inner turmoil he could be experiencing, but now was not the time to think about it.

Now was time to go to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and get into the character that she and Sweets helped create, Roxie Bledel.

* * *

"Yeah…one room under Tony Scallion," Booth said confidently, tapping the car-keys (of his newly rented 1966 blue mustang) against the reception desk of the hotel as a young, blonde woman flashed him a flirtatious smile.

"Yes Mr Scallion, let me just check…" she replied sweetly, blushing at Booth's impressive attire of flashy pants and shirt (his bulging muscles utterly visible) and of course that husky accent of his.

She completely disregarded the tall, slender, beautiful woman beside him.

"Yes Sir, there's a reservation right here. Room 13, up the elevator and to the left, just follow the signs", she grinned widely again, swiping his credit card (given specifically to Booth that night by the FBI for an account belonging to a 'Tony Joshua Scallion') and leaning forward on the desk, the cleavage of her large breasts visible from under her tight-fitting shirt.

Brennan rolled her eyes at the young, blonde's behaviour. She decided to have some fun.

"Yes, thank you…Daisy…" she replied equally as sweet , flinging her arm around Booth's neck and flashing her a 100 watt smile.

Daisy's eyes grew cold as she watched this. 'Tony' leaned into 'Roxie's' touch, wrapping his arm around her waist and giving it a slight squeeze.

The receptionist stalked away in a huff and as the two partners made their way upstairs Booth could not contain a small chuckle.

"I still got it…" he grinned egotistically.

"Don't flatter yourself", Brennan scolded harshly.

"Hey you're the one that still has her arm around me", he mumbled, a hint of laughter in his voice.

Brennan instantly dropped her arm, having completely forgotten it still lay around his shoulders.

"We're supposed to act like we're a couple", she mumbled in her defence.

"Yeah Bones, that's the other thing", Booth replied sceptically as they reached room 13.

"What do you mean?" Brennan asked, suddenly feeling uneasy.

"Well, seen as we're supposed to be a couple, I thought if it would be best if we…" Booth trailed off as the lock of the door clicked and he flung it open.

Brennan regarded him with confusion for a moment but with his continued ushering, she stepped into the room they rented and looked around her.

Her eyes immediately fell to the middle of the room.

She whiled around sharply, "you got us a double room?!" she almost yelled with anger.

Booth made shooing actions with his arms as he closed the door behind him and carried their stuff in.

"Yeah I mean we're supposed to be a couple and it would look weird if we had a twin room…"

"But we're NOT a couple Booth! There's only one bed in here!"

"That's kinda the idea Bones…" Booth blurted before he could stop himself.

Brennan almost gasped as she saw Booth's alarmed expression bore into her's.

"W-What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, her breath becoming ragged and irregular.

The two stared at each other for a moment, neither willing to look away first.

Hearts pumped frantically, pulses raced, breaths quickened as the stare became intense and the temperature in the room rose by several degrees.

Suddenly the loud beeping of Booth's cell-phone snapped the pair violently out of their reverie and they jumped several feet apart.

"B-Booth", Seeley mumbled shakily into his speaker.

Brennan looked away from him and began to busy herself with unloading her suitcase.

After a few moments Booth closed his phone with a snap.

He stared at his partner, who stood with her back to him, bent slightly over the bed, sorting out her case.

His eyes drank in every inch of her, from her creamy, slender legs right up to the amber curls of her hair.

Shaking his head violently and willing the very un-partner-like thoughts he was beginning to have about her, he mumbled quietly, "uh that was Cullen, he was just checking in."

Brennan turned slightly to look at Booth with confusion.

"Since when does Cullen call to 'check in'?" she asked, failing to remember the last time he did so.

Booth began to get uncomfortable, and his hand immediately rose to his neck to rub it vigorously.

"Uh…well…seen as this is uh…personal for me…he, uh, doesn't usually allow his agents directly involved with a victim do these kinda things and uh…" he trailed off lamely.

Brennan's eyes searched his and found his nervousness. She nodded in understanding.

"So what now?" she asked, trying to ease the ever-growing tension that was beginning to mount as the continued to stare at each other.

Booth jumped into action suddenly, rubbing his hands together and plastering a fake smile which even Brennan would see through, but she decided to let it go.

"Now Bones? We have a rest…"

"I'm sleeping in the bed!"

"No way why do you get the bed?"

"Because it's your fault we have a double room!!"

"That's not fair!"

"Well I don't care!"

The two stood, glaring at each other, hands on hips.

When he could no longer take the continuous intense staring Booth yelled "Fine!" before storming over to the couch and laying down hastily, shifting from side to side, trying in vain to get comfortable.

Brennan watched, a small smirk of satisfaction spreading across her face.

"What about tonight?" she asked, sitting down gently on the nice, soft bed.

"Tonight Bones?" Booth asked, his eyes still clamped closed, "we go to a night-club!"

Brennan frowned deeply at his words. Something was telling her she was not going to like this…

* * *

**A/N: Up next is going to be "Dirty-Dancing And Sleeping-Situations", another Tony+Roxie scene! ;)**

**Well, that do you think? Please let me know…I have ever-growing ideas for this plot and am getting really excited at this point and hope you are too! Thankies to all my lovely readers! If there's anymore Tony+Roxie stuff you'd like to see just let me know! Thankies again! wired2damoon **


	13. Dirty Dancing And Sleeping Situations

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 13: Dirty Dancing and Sleeping Situations**

**A/N: Just a head's up, this is going to be a LONG chapter! Thankies to everyone who has reviewed so far, it means the world to me! Here's more Tony+Roxie action for you! **

The glossy, red lipstick passed swiftly over the plump bottom lip, coating it with a crimson hint.

As she put the finishing touches to her make-up, Temperance Brennan took a step back to view herself in the hotel mirror.

'_This seems like an appropriate attire for a club' _she thought to herself before smoothing down her blood-red dress with the 'generous' plunging neck-line.

She reached down and picked up the new black heels Angela had bought her.

She grimaced slightly as she remembered what her best friend had said when she gave them to her.

"_These sweetie are what we ladies like to call 'fuck-me-heels'. I'm sure Booth will appreciate them…have a nice time now…"_

Brennan rolled her eyes as her friends words rang in her ears. She slipped her slender feet delicately into them, closed the clasp and straightened up.

"Hey Bones are you nearly ready? I'd like to get to the club before the next ice-age!" the aggravated tone of her partner wafting through the bathroom door.

"Its highly doubtful that there will be another ice-age Booth…with global warming the polar ice-caps are melting and the earth's magma is-"

"-Well the next millennium then!" Booth interjected abruptly interrupting Brennan's eco-warrior rant.

"But that takes a thousand years Booth!"

"My point exactly Bones!"

Upon hearing her partner's "witty" remark, Temperance huffed angrily and retched the door open suddenly, causing her partner (who was leaning on the door impatiently) to come crashing into her, his chest connecting with her's.

"Woah!" Booth exclaimed in surprise as he struggled to right himself, but was finding it difficult.

"Ow, ow, ow Booth don't move! My hair is caught in your shirt button", Brennan hissed, her soft, delicate fingers reaching up in an attempt to free her hair from the irritable button.

If she were to look up, the great scientist would only then realise how close she and her partner actually were.

Seeley Booth's mouth had dropped open significantly and his eyes began burning with an intense passion as he looked down at his partner's face, screwed up in concentration as she tried to release her hair.

He felt utterly breathless…

"There!" she exclaimed with relief, as her hair was pulled free. Only then she look up.

The blue eyes met the brown and the were utterly lost in each other.

It seemed as if all the oxygen from the room had evaporated and the Brennan began struggling from breath.

There, right in front of her, a mere half an inch away, was her partner, and most importantly, her partner's lips, that lay utterly unclenched…

_If she were just to lean up on her tip toes she could just about…_

_NO!_

"Uh…you ready to go?" Brennan asked, shaking her head and taking a large step back from him, her eyes looking everywhere but at him.

Again, if the great scientist were to look up, she would have seen her partner look slightly crestfallen, rejected, disappointed, hurt…

Seeley cleared his throat loudly. "Yeah sure Bones, uh…let's go…"

Temperance drew a deep sigh as she saw Booth step out of the en suite bathroom and back into the bedroom.

She followed him out silently and watched his broad muscles flex under his shirt as he threw on his brown jacket.

Her eyes travelled down his body for a moment, before she realised that she was staring and she snapped her gaze back up to the back of his head.

Booth turned around to meet her gaze and there was a moment's silence.

After a second (or maybe several years) of a hanging glance, Seeley spoke softly in his Tony accent, "so, you ready Roxie?"

Brennan smirked a little as they made their way out the door, taking his arm gently as she replied in her best what she thought was a Clara Bow impression, "yeah sure Tony, let's go…"

One thing was sure…tonight was definitely going to be interesting…

* * *

People were everywhere, their bodies rocking and bumping into each other as they moved to the pumping music, blasting throughout the large club.

Strobe lights flickered on the dance floor, basking everything in a strange orange glow, the pink, then yellow…

A couple, man and woman, walked confidently into the abode, looking around themselves with interest.

No one passed any remarks on them, they looked the same as every other couple there…a handsome, tall, muscular man and a beautiful, slender, long-legged woman.

"So…who are we looking for?" asked the woman, her lips a mere inch from her companion's ear.

The man shifted slightly as if he was unsure of their close contact but soon relaxed into it.

"Ella, Mike's girlfriend. She works as a bar-tender here…and apparently, she told Jared that Mike got in a fight with the owner of this joint two days before he disappeared so he's on our check-out list too…" he murmured, a tough, New-York sounding accent omitting from his lips.

The woman, (who would inform anyone who asked that her name was Roxie Bledel), nodded her head slightly, her sea-blue eyes darting around her.

The man, her companion (who would inform anyone that asked that he was Tony Scallion), wrapped his arm around the woman's waist and drew her close, murmuring confidently (upon spotting a small blonde that fit Ella Banks description behind the bar ), "I'm just gonna go grab us some drinks hunny, you stay here and…mingle…"

Roxie nodded and watched intently as Tony walked away from her towards the bar.

She glanced around herself for a moment, her eyes flickering from couple to couple, each grinding against each other in time with the music, and smirked with interest.

The anthropologist inside her saw this as a fantastic opportunity from an anthropologic study, that was completely unnoticeable and coy to the rest of the world of course.

For the scientist knew that there was no way Roxie Bledel would ever be interested in anthropology…therefore she would be sure not to blow her cover…

In her observations she would just have to be sly…

Tony Scallion made his way across the edge of the dance-floor, his confident walk and charming smile turning the heads of all the females in close vicinity.

He winked at a group of woman standing by the bar, and immediately a rush of high-pitched giggles omitted from the group.

Shaking his head to himself, Tony stopped at the bar, folded his arms on the counter and leaned forward slightly.

"A scotch on the rocks please," he said confidently to the woman he knew was Ella Banks.

"Sure thing hunny, anything you want…" she replied playfully, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously.

_Oh yeah…I so still got it… _Booth thought smugly.

"So…you're not from around here are ya darlin'?" the young woman named Ella asked, her beaming smile glistening as she slid his scotch across the bar.

"No I'm not, neither are you by the sound of it", Booth murmured in reply, cocking his head in that charming way of his.

Ella Banks blushed deeply at his expression and her smile grew even wider. "No, I'm not, born and raised in Tennessee".

Booth nodded, knowing that he was doing well with his small-talk ploy.

"So…you got a name or do I just call you the beautiful bar tender?" he asked, knowing fully well it was a cheap shot, but his gut told him it'd work.

And sure thing it did. Ella laughed, waving her hand at him. "Oh you're too much! It's Ella, Ella Banks", she finished holding out her hand in greeting.

Booth's eyes searched her's as he reached out and shook her hand.

"I'm Tony, Tony Scallion…" he smirked, not once taking his eyes off her. It would take all his charm to get the information he wanted.

Meanwhile, as her partner chatted-up the hot bar-tender, Brennan amused herself by sitting down at a round table and ordering herself a martini, there was no telling how long Booth would take "getting drinks".

Her soft, blue eyes scanned the room, mentally drinking in all the goings-on about.

It wasn't long after her second sip of the sweet drink did she feel someone approach her.

"And what is such a beauty as yourself doing sitting here all alone?" came the suave voice from behind her.

Brennan had to grit her teeth in order to stop herself from remarking coldly at being referred to as a "beauty" as she realised it would blow her cover. Instead, she took a deep, calming, breath and spun slowly around in her chair.

"Well I don't know tiger, why is such a handsome, rugged guy like yourself not already accompanied by such a beauty?" she replied, her voice as smooth as honey in her best Roxie accent.

"That is the question isn't it doll?…care to dance?" the short, balding, pot-bellied man asked, extending his chubby hand for Brennan to take.

It was very unlike her to accept a dance from a stranger, especially from a man who just called her 'doll'.

But today she was not the logical, rational, highly-intelligent Temperance Brennan. No, today she was the cheeky, coy, confidently-beautiful Roxie Bledel who was ready to take on the world!

She stared at the hand for a moment, her brain working a mile a minute. _Could he be the man Mike got in a fight with? He didn't seem like he was able to hurt a new-born puppy…but there was only one way to find out…_

"Sure, sugar", she murmured, plastering a fake grin onto her beautiful face, before standing up and taking his hand, trying to ignore the fact that he was squeezing it rather tightly and she towered over him by at least three inches…

A raunchy, slow song started up as Brennan and her mystery man entered the dance floor.

The man spun her suddenly and dragged her into him, pulling her plush against his chest, which resulted in her having to bend her knees slightly.

"So…you got a name?" the man asked, standing up fully, his lips an inch away from Brennan's ear as they swayed to the music, the guy's hands resting a little to low on Brennan's back.

Brennan had to refrain from grimacing. She was just thankful that he couldn't see her face as it was turned to the side.

"Yeah, its Roxanne, Roxanne Bledel, but you can call me Roxie", she responded, in what she hoped was a flirtatious tone.

_Maybe this was a man she could squeeze information out of…and beat to a pulp if she had to…_

"So…do you have a name?" she asked, this time leaning her head back so he could look into her face.

He smirked softly at her actions and gripped his told on her waist a little tighter with one hand, as the other stroked her arm.

"The name's Steve, Steve Davis, I own this joint", he replied, digging his hip into her's in time with the music.

_So this was the man after all…Brennan couldn't help but smile, she had read someone right for once!_

The anthropologist could tell that the mention of his club was typical male assertion. He was trying to impress her by showing her his assets…he certainly didn't have anything else to offer her, and he knew it!

"Wow…it must be hard work managing this place all by yourself…" Brennan mumbled with fake awe, stroking his ego gently with her words as she wound her arms around his neck, completely unaware as how to engage in what she knew was to be "dirty dancing".

Steve shifted slightly, his eyes closing for a fraction before replying, "yeah it is…but I got staff…"

Brennan rolled her eyes, this guy was really something. First, he was flaunting his assets and now he was bragging about his dominance. Typical alpha-male tendencies… more common in men who lacked certain qualities, such as a handsome physique and large reproductive organs…

"You seem to have a lot of people to look after in this line of work, you must get terribly…frustrated…" she cooed, her voice almost coming out in a purring sound as she felt his hands begin to stroke her back, his hip rolling against her's once more.

Steve seemed to catch on to what she was getting at and he beamed widely, one gold incisor visible amongst his overly-whitened teeth.

"Well…I have…ways to deal with my frustration…" he mumbled into her ear, his voice getting rather strained as Brennan suddenly bucked her hip, connecting with his sharply.

Brennan was now beginning to realise that Steve was getting aroused by this mere conversation and mild actions, it made her smirk at the thought.

'_Booth's not the only one that's still got it' _she thought devilishly, trying to ignore her horrible grammar.

"Such as?" she asked innocently, batting her eyelashes at him, whilst silently thinking, _"watching your staff beat Mike Johnston to death?"_.

Suddenly Steve's faced broke out into a smile and he mumbled excitedly, "let me show you something", before practically dragging Brennan off the dance floor.

Brennan severely fought the urge to kick him in the testicles as he pulled her roughly with him.

She scanned the room desperately for Booth, confunded by the dilemma.

_Would she go with this man and see whatever he had to show her? It could be important to the case after all…_

_Or, did she go for the latter and kick him in the testicles, hard, and risk blowing her cover?_

It seemed though, that she was not the one to make that decision.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" came the extremely angered tone of none other Tony Scallion.

Brennan whirled around wildly, her mouth hanging open in shock as she saw Booth storm over towards them, his eyes looking murderous.

"And who the hell are you?" Steve Davis spat, his hand still firmly wrapped around Brennan's bare arm tightly.

"Doesn't matter who I am buddy, all you need to know is that the woman you got in the gorilla-grip of yours is mine", barked Booth, his eyes flashing dangerously, as he stepped ever-closer to the shorter man, towering over him considerably.

Brennan's blood began to boil. She wanted nothing more then to hit Booth as she heard him refer to her as 'his'.

But then she realised that it was all an act and Booth was just doing what Tony Scallion would do. He was acting jealous because another man was hitting on his 'engaged-to-be-engaged' fiancé.

"Hey, buddy, I don't see your name written all over her so why don't you just back off, before I call security", Steve squeaked, his bravery faltering considerably at Booth's advances.

Brennan couldn't help but smirk. The poor, little guy looked like he was ready to pee his pants…

"Heh…" Booth laughed, "too afraid to face me on your own little man?" he asked, taking another step towards Steve and leaning down so that his nose was a mere inch from his.

Steve gulped nervously. His little, beady eyes were now bulging to the size of saucers as Booth drew another breath and hissed dangerously low, "now you be a good little boy and take your grubby mitts off my fiancé".

Steve let out a nervous breath and released Brennan from his grip immediately.

Booth nodded in satisfactory, and stood forward to wrap his arms around Brennan protectively.

The anthropologist bit her lip so hard she thought it would begin to bleed. She was furious!

Steve's saucer-like eyes darted from one to the other nervously, as if waiting for something bad to happen.

Booth continued to stare at Steve, his chocolate brown eyes piercing and slit.

When the tension became too much, Steve practically burst and became utterly flustered and flushed a deep crimson.

"I…I'll just g-go get some-some drinks for you and your…lovely lady…" he mumbled, before darting away like a frightened rabbit towards the bar.

Brennan and Booth watched him go, Booth's arm still firmly around his partner's waist.

Once she saw Steve dip into the back of the club, Brennan retched herself away from Booth and slapped him hard on the shoulder.

"What the hell was that?!" she almost screamed, fighting to let her voice be heard over the pumping music.

Booth seemed shocked by Brennan's sudden outburst, but after a moment he recovered and trudged over to the table Brennan vacated and sat down heavily, letting out an irritated sigh

"What do you mean what was that? For god's sake Bones, I leave you alone for five minutes and you're already going into the back for a quicky with Donald Thrump!"

Brennan's mouth dropped open with outrage. Her hands began to shake with anger.

"How dare you…I was not doing anything of the sort! I was merely trying to find out…_information_…" she hissed quietly, sitting down beside him so that he could hear her.

"Yeah, I heard sleeping with someone is the best way to get them to sing like a bird…" Booth muttered angrily to himself, but Brennan heard him nonetheless.

"Ugh! You are unbelievable! At least I was being helpful! All you did was refer to me as 'yours' and assert your male dominance over me! How does that help our case exactly?"

"Because, I was acting my part! There is no way Tony would let Roxie get hit on by some creep old enough to be her father and short enough to be mistaken for a Seven-Dwarf!"

In the midst of their argument, Brennan and Booth had turned to each other with fury, and glared at each other intensely as their words grew more heated.

Their eyes were burning with passion as their gazes sunk deeply into each other, their breaths ragged as they fought to control their tempers.

A minute passed in utter silence (despite the booming club music) as the two partners glared, jaws set, their noses mere inches away from the other.

Suddenly just when Booth thought he could take it any longer, a small smile twitched Brennan's lips so that they turned up slightly at the sides.

"That description was rather accurate Booth. He does resemble a dwarf, Dopey I'd say…"

Booth chuckled loudly, all his anger suddenly evaporating as her words sunk in.

"Yeah you're right Bones, but I'm surprised you even know who Dopey is…"

"Of course I know Dopey! But I admit Snow White was never a favourite. I always thought she was too domestic and such a damsel in distress! She was too dependent and it disgusts me that she needed a Prince in her life to be happy…" Brennan ranted, completely unaware the Booth was now completely gaping at her.

_Seeley couldn't help but let his mind form a picture of the beautiful woman sitting beside him, dressed up as a princess and wrapping her slender, cream arms around his waist of his shinning armour as they rode a white horse off into the sunset…_

_He couldn't help but wonder if Brennan really needed a prince in her life to be happy…_

Shaking his head considerably to will the un-partner-like thoughts away, Booth blurted hurriedly (for merely something to do) "so Roxie, would you do me the honour of giving me this dance?"

Brennan looked sideways at Booth and to his extended hand.

_She could easily say no. She was at no liberty to dance with Booth. Yes, they were supposed to be a couple but who's to say that meant they had to dance?_

"Yes…" she replied before her mind could formulate a reason why she shouldn't.

Taking her hand gently, (a lot more gently then Steve, Brennan noticed) Booth let her out onto the dance floor where the chorus of an old Frank Sinatra song was playing.

"**I've got a crush on you…sweetie-pie…"**

Brennan shook her head as she heard the lyrics. It really was an odd song to play at a club, but what she failed to notice earlier that they were signs posted around the place saying in bold writing:

**Couples Night.**

Rolling her eyes at the irony, Brennan took Booth's right hand, placed her left on his shoulder and made room for him to put his on her waist.

_Seeley Booth certainly wasn't the type of man who danced dirty with her. Temperance couldn't help but wonder if she was relieved or disappointed about that fact..._

"You do know you blew it don't you?" she smirked as they began to sway to the music, never taking their eyes off each other's gazes.

"What do you mean?" Booth asked, truly confused.

"That was the owner of the club! I thought you wanted to press him for information? Now you've scared him off and drawn attention to yourself…" Brennan explained as if she were talking his five year old son.

Booth rolled his eyes at his partner's tone but just smirked smugly, "don't you worry hunny, I haven't blown anything…"

Now it was Brennan's turn to be confused.

"What-"

"-He isn't the owner of the club", Booth interjected.

"What-"

"-He was just trying to impress you"

"But-"

"He thought you were hot and wanting to make you believe he was a hot-shot."

Brennan was growing irritated as Booth kept interrupting her, and the fact that she was wrong about Steve after all…

"So how-"

"-We're gonna come back tomorrow and talk to Ella again. She invited me to a private function tomorrow night…" he trailed off.

Brennan glared at him.

"So I'm allowed to talk now am I?" she asked angrily as Booth just grinned at her.

He nodded and smiled wider.

"Yeah sure hunny, go ahead", he laughed, watching intently as Brennan's face grew red with anger.

Suddenly her foot flew out and her 'fuck-me-heels' connected sharply with her partner's foot.

"OW!" Booth hissed, gripping Brennan's hand tightly and glaring at her as his eyes began to sting.

"What the hell was that for?" he asked in a hushed tone as a few people began to stare at them.

Brennan only smirked with satisfaction.

"Tony or not, you cannot tell me when and when not to speak, I always speak my mind, tiger…"

Booth let out an angry puff of breath as the romantic song continued playing in the background. He reached forward and pulled her close again.

_God did she know how to make his blood-pressure sky-rocket…_

"So…she already invited you to a party?" Brennan asked after several moments of more angered silence.

Booth nodded, trying to ignore how good it felt to hold her in his arms.

"Yeah…she seems surprisingly forward for a woman whose boyfriend just disappeared…"

"You think that's suspicious?" asked his partner, her head cocking to one side with interest, and pressing her lips extremely close to his ear so she wouldn't be over-heard.

Booth smirked and leaned in closer to her, feeling his partner's heart beat against his.

"Yeah, very suspicious…either that or I'm just a really good catch!"

Brennan rolled her eyes to the ceiling as Booth continued to smirk smugly at her.

"You really do have an over-large ego Booth!"

"Yeah well…I have many overly large things-"

"Booth! I never mentioned penis size!"

"Neither did I Bones…geez I was just talking about my '66 mustang. Get your mind outta the gutter!" Booth grinned truly enjoying himself now.

Brennan flushed a deep crimson. Roxie was really beginning to have an effect on her it seemed.

The partner's lapsed into another silence, although this time it was comfortable as they danced slowly together, their bodies just as close as any other the couples there and their coy smiles and stolen glances the same as any lovers'.

This was turning out to be one hell of a night.

* * *

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because its…its weird!"

"Booth! You're being childish!"

"I am not being childish Bones! I'm perfectly fine on the couch thank you!" Seeley Booth spat at his partner as they stood arguing at the end of the bed back at their hotel room.

"I don't see why you're making a big deal out of this Booth. We are too grown adults, I don't see why we can't share a bed-"

"Because Bones it'd be too-"

"-Sexual?"

"BONES!"

"Booth its like I said, we're too grown adults! We're perfectly capable of sleeping in the same bed without it feeling sexual!" Brennan rationalised, stepping closer to Booth, who in turned stepped away.

"Why are you pushing this Bones? Do you want me to sleep with you or something?" Booth asked, sounding joking at first, but his eyes widened after a moment when he realised how that must of sounded.

The room was engulfed with a chilling silence.

Brennan's eyes shown with something Booth couldn't entirely place before she responded, "I just don't want you moaning in the morning about having a sore neck or back or whatever…I was merely thinking of my own sanity!"

Seeley nodded. _Was it just him or did she not actually deny that she wanted to sleep with him?_

Shaking his head vigorously, he grumbled softly, "well that's very considerate of you".

Temperance gathered up her stuff and stormed to the bathroom shouting over her shoulder, "I'm going to change for bed, don't blame me if you wake up in the morning feeling like you slept on concrete, you can't say I didn't offer an alternative".

Booth grimaced as she slammed the door.

_And what an alternative it was…wow…he was an idiot…_

* * *

Jared Booth hissed as his arms were pulled roughly over his head.

Mike patted him hand on the back as he successfully retrieved the blood-soaked shirt from his former friend.

"That'll do nicely man, thanks…" he mumbled, his manic grin, nearly glowing in the early morning light.

Jared glanced up from where he was bound to a wooden chair to where Mike stood over him.

"W-What d-do y-you n-need m-my s-shirt f-for?" he stuttered, feeling the cold set in immediately.

Instead of replying Mike merely turned from Jared and addressed one of his minions, his voice filled with a mixture of glee and hatred.

"Mulroy. Mail this with all the instructions to the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington and address it to a Special Agent Seeley Booth…"

**A/N: Wow that was long! Phew! Thank god I can stop typing now! Please reward me for my hard work and sore fingers! Eww…that sounded…weird… you know what I meant though, right? XD**


	14. Blood And Heart

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 14: Blood and Heart**

**A/N: Well I'm finally finished! Final Exams and Secondary (High) School is over! FOREVER! I'm now officially, the happiest person alive!! -Beams widely- So, to celebrate I have written another REALLY RIDICULOUSLY LONG chapter (6759 words), full to the brim with just about everything, a little romance, jealously, angst, action (both kinds lol), and a good ol' heart to heart with Booth and Bones! So enjoy! **

"Booth?" Temperance Brennan asked her partner as they got ready to go out.

"Yeah Bones?" her partner replied, as he straightened out his shirt.

"You grew up in Pittsburgh, right?"

"Yeah…" he mumbled suspiciously, his back still turned away from her.

"And we're in Pittsburgh now…" she trailed off.

"Bones, are you going somewhere with this?" Booth asked turning around finally to look at her, already knowing where the conversation was leading.

"Well…yes, I was just wondering…do your parents know?" Brennan asked attentively, looking a little nervous as he began to stare at her.

Booth's eyes shown with something Brennan couldn't quite comprehend before mumbling something incoherent.

"Sorry Booth I didn't catch that…"

Booth sighed, his eyes downcast to the floor. Taking a deep breath his spoke louder, "I said, no they don't…"

Brennan let his words sink in. There were a few moments silence, where Temperance stared at Booth, whilst he stared at the ground.

Finally Brennan spoke, "so you didn't tell them?"

"No."

"And the Bureau didn't either?"

"No."

Temperance nodded, trying to make sense of what her partner was telling her.

"So they still think he's visiting you in Washington and-"

"GOD BONES! YES! OKAY? THEY KNOW NOTHING AND THAT'S THE WAY ITS GONNA STAY UNTIL I GET HIM BACK! ALRIGHT?" Booth suddenly roared, storming across the room, away from Brennan.

Temperance stood there, utterly stunned by her partner's outburst. She had never seen him lose control like that. She thought she would be angry at him for shouting at her in such a manner but she didn't. She felt sorry for him…

"Booth look I…I'm sorry I really didn't mean to upset you, I-" she stopped abruptly as she saw Booth's shoulders (under his crisp, new black shirt) slump considerably.

She frowned as she heard him inhale deeply. He really was upset.

"This…t-this is all my fault…" he mumbled, so softly that Brennan almost didn't hear him.

In two, large strides, she was over to him and laying her hand on his shoulder gently, as his back was still turned from her.

As her palm connected with the soft fabric of his shirt, she felt him tense a little, as if he was unsure of her actions.

Biting her lip nervously, but keeping her hand firmly stationary, she whispered, "Booth…this isn't your fault…you can't blame yourself…"

Booth continued to take deep breaths and he tried to control his emotions.

Brennan could tell that he was trying to stop himself from crying in front of her and was deeply saddened by it.

So she did the first thing that came to mind.

She moved her palm that lay rested on his shoulder and pushed him gently around to face her.

Booth complied, but stared deeply into her eyes, confused at her actions.

Without saying a word Brennan took one last look into his eyes and stepped forward, standing on her tip-toes and wrapping her long, slender arms around his neck in what she hoped was a comforting manner.

Booth stood still for a moment as he felt his beautiful partner wrap her arms around him. He was shocked but extremely grateful at her attempts to comfort him.

Booth brought his arms to rest around her waist as he began to hug her back.

"Bones…I-I'm sorry I shouted at you, I didn't mean-"

"-Booth its okay, I understand…" Brennan whispered, her lips a milometer away from his ear.

They stood like that for several minutes, Brennan just hugging him tightly, wishing for his pain to go away.

"You told me once Booth…that if you ever got scared that you would hug me. I decided to hug you instead, since you're too proud", she smirked, a hint of laughter in her voice.

Booth chuckled a little as she said this.

"Thanks Bones," he murmured as she released him, and stood back to look at him.

His heart panged softly as he felt the warmth of her leave his shoulders. No matter how much he tried to deny it to himself, he missed her being that close to him.

"No problem Booth, you looked like you needed a _guy-hug_", Brennan almost cringed as she said it.

The two regarded each other for a moment. Their eyes lingering a little too long…both knowing well that that was so much more then just a guy hug…

"So…ready Tony?" Brennan asked, breaking the spell between them.

As she turned away from him, Booth shook his head irritably.

"Ready when you are Roxie…"

* * *

"Knock, knock", came the voice of the young, Dr. Lance Sweets as he stood at the door to the office of Ms Angela Montenegro.

Angela glanced up from her work and saw the young man standing there, looking a little lost.

"Hey Dr. Sweets, something I can help you with?" Angela asked helpfully, ushering him into her office to sit down.

"Hey thanks Angela, um…I was just wondering if you saw Dr. Brennan or Agent Booth around. They were supposed to stop by my office before they went today…" he mumbled as he took a seat opposite her.

Angela frowned and put down her sketch book.

"Oh sweetie, did Bren or Booth not tell you? They had to leave early for Pittsburgh, Booth's brother Jared's gone missing and they think it has something to do with the case…"

Lance nodded as her words sank in. He blushed slightly as he heard her call him 'sweetie'.

"No they didn't notify me…"

"Well I wouldn't worry about it, it is pretty confidential, the way I hear it is that only Cullen knows, and well…us…"

"Us?" Lance asked curiously, his voice growing a little higher.

"Well me and you, Cam and well…Hodgins…"

"You told Hodgins?"

"Oh sweetie I had to! C'mon even under the circumstances, Bren and Booth going away for a weekend together is still worth talking about!" Angela exclaimed excitedly.

Lance regarded her slightly for a moment. A small smile graced his young face as he came to a realization. This was a woman he could definitely confide in, whether she knew it or not…

"Angela…can I ask you something?"

Angela's head tilted to the side considering his question.

"Depends on what it is…" she murmured suspiciously.

"It's about Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth."

A smirk broke out on the beautiful artist's face.

"Well in that case, go right ahead…"

* * *

"Hey Charlie, a package came for Agent Booth, do you know where he is?" asked Agent Fields, approaching his friend's office.

Charlie looked up from his desk. He spotted the package in a large, brown envelop in his friend's hand.

"I haven't seen Agent Booth today Ryan, but Cullen will know where he is".

Ryan Fields nodded, waved in thanks and made his way to his boss's office.

Approaching the door, Ryan took a deep breath and knocked firmly, twice.

"Come in", came the gruff voice of Sam Cullen from within.

"Sir, there's a package here for Agent Booth, but I can't seem to locate him", Fields spoke politely, handing him the package.

Cullen stared at the package in his hands for a moment before thanking Fields with a dismissive "good, that'll be all Fields".

As the agent left, Cullen weighed the item in his hands before making a split decision.

Grabbing his coat and car-keys, Cullen sped out of his office and out of the building.

After a few moments, he found himself out at the entrance to The Jeffersonian.

Heaving a deep sigh, he reached out and pushed open the door, stepping into 'Squint-City' and making his way towards the Medio-Legal Lab.

Dr. Camille Saroyan stood on the platform, talking adamantly to Dr. Hodgins who was rambling about particulates.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a man approach.

"Dr. Saroyan?" the man called.

Camille looked down and was shocked at who she saw.

"Deputy Director Cullen?" she turned and walked down the steps to greet him.

He looked grim as she approached him, holding out what appeared to be a large, brown envelop.

"What-" she began to ask, but he cut her off.

"It came for Agent Booth".

The two looked at each other for a moment and a look of understanding passed over Cam's eyes.

_Oh this can't be good…_

* * *

"So its safe to say that you find Agent Booth sexually attractive?" Dr. Sweets asked the artist with interest.

Angela folded her arms and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

"Sweetie, I can safely say for all the women and gay men in America that there's not one person on this earth who doesn't find Booth totally sexy!"

Sweets grinned as she said this.

"And this too goes for Dr. Brennan?"

"Oh yeah, she's totally on the Booth band wagon", Angela rambled happily.

Lance sat back on the seat and smirked gently at this new information.

Angela, who was now only realising what she had just said, smiled gently.

"Wow…you really are good at getting information out of people…" she mumbled, realising her mistake.

Lance just smirked in reply, but his smirk soon faded as he saw Angela rise out of her chair, walk agonisingly slow over to him, lean down and look him menacingly in the eyes.

"But I don't like being manipulated. So don't do it again", she said dangerously soft, before exiting the room, a large grin on her face as the image of the frightened, young doctor was etched into her mind.

Lance gasped as he heard the artist leave.

_What was it with the women around here?_

* * *

"Okay so just act…act like you belong in the place alright Bones? Try not to be all uptight and-"

"-Booth are you forgetting we've done this before? I'll be okay!" snapped Brennan, getting extremely agitated as her partner had not stopped nagging her since they got into the car.

Booth rolled his eyes and he could not refrain himself from mumbling, "yeah well the last time you tried acting, it ended getting us blown up!"

Brennan, having heard what he said, scowled, "Booth! It had nothing to do with my acting! It was because I was riding up front, you don't ride up front in a Taxi and-"

"Okay, okay I take it back, just please, remember, we're in a club. A private function. There's probably gonna be people doing drugs, getting lap-dances so just act like its natural to you…"

Brennan glared at her partner. Booth could see her out of the corner of his eye as he drove.

They were engulfed in a stony silence.

* * *

"Isn't it illegal to open other people's mail?" Dr. Sweets asked as Dr. Saroyan ripped open the brown envelop.

"Well I'm sure seen as this is stained with what's possibly blood, Booth will forgive us and will find it in his heart to not press charges", Camille remarked sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she withdrew what looked like a large white cloth.

"What the?" questioned Deputy Director Cullen as he saw what Cam retrieved.

Cullen, the squints and Sweets all made their way over to Cam and watched in awe as she laid out the material on the decontamination table.

"It's…it's a shirt…" Cam mumbled, her heart wrenching when she realized what it could mean.

"And I bet if we check it the blood, the DNA will be Jared's…" she finished softly.

Cullen shook his head sadly and looked around himself, suddenly feeling as if he intruded on a private moment.

Clearing his throat he muttered, "well…doctor… let me know what the results are and I'll notify Agent Booth".

Cam nodded as she watched Cullen walk away. She turned to find Hodgins, Angela and Sweets gawking at her.

"Do…do you really think the blood is Jared's?" Angela asked in a quiet voice.

"Dr. Brennan always tells us never to jump to conclusions but I think I can almost be certain yes," Cam mumbled in reply.

"Hey wait-there's something else here…" Dr. Hodgins suddenly exclaimed as he too examined the contents of the envelop.

Everyone leaned forward, each holding their breath as Hodgins retrieved a small piece of paper from the bottom of the envelop with a forceps.

"There's writing on it…what does it say Hodgins?" asked Sweets, peering at the paper with interest.

Hodgins turned it over carefully, his eyes squinting as he struggled to read the note.

Drawing a breath he read aloud:

_"DEAR SPECIAL AGENT SEELEY BOOTH,_

_WE HAVE YOUR BROTHER JARED AS YOU PROBABLY KNOW NOW IF YOUR SQUINTS ARE ANYWAY DECENT. HE'S SAFE, FOR NOW. HE WILL NOT BE FOR LONG HOWEVER, IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY TO THE FOLLOWING INTRUCTIONS:_

_ONE, YOU ARE TO ANSWER YOUR CELL PHONE WHEN IT RINGS EXACTLY AT ONE THIRTY TOMORROW AFTERNOON. HERE YOU WILL BE GIVEN THE NEXT STEP._

_TWO, WHEN YOU ARE GIVEN THE INSTRUCTIONS OVER THE PHONE YOU ARE TO CONTINUE ALONE. NO FBI, OR THERE WILL BE SOME CONSEQUENCES. YOU UNDERSTAND?_

_WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR VISIT AGENT BOOTH._

_UNTIL NEXT WE COMMUNICATE."_

Hodgins stopped reading abruptly and heaved a deep sigh. When he looked at his companions, he saw the expressions he knew he too had.

Shock, fear, anger, and utter unease.

"It's all typed in capital writing and there's no signature at the bottom…" he trailed off, feeling drained when he thought about what would be Booth's reaction to this.

They all seemed to be letting the situation sink in.

"Well…I'm going to test the blood anyway, just to be sure…" mumbled Cam taking smearing a sample of the blood on a slide, before walking off.

"I'll check the shirt for any particulates, see if it can give us a location…" muttered Hodgins before giving Angela a kiss and darting over to his microscope.

Angela and Sweets were left standing motionless on the platform.

Sweets rubbed his neck under the scrutiny of the artist's gaze.

"Uh…I-I'll go and see if I can start a profile on-on whoever could have done this…" he stuttered before departing also.

Angela was left alone now. All she wanted to do was get in touch with Brennan and see how she was and see how Booth was and to tell him what was going on but she knew she couldn't until at least midnight.

Heaving a deep sigh, she threw her fiancé a small smile before walking slowly back to her office.

She glanced at her watch before sitting down at her desk.

7:30. She couldn't help but wonder what her friend was up to, knowing well that the rest of the Squints were going to work a lot later into the night, no matter what it took.

* * *

"Booth, why are we here so early?" Brennan asked as the 1969 blue mustang pulled up to the "The Blackened Heart". She tilted her head to one side as she read the name.

"We're here early because we're going to scope out the place before we go into the party", Booth explained as he adjusted the small head-gun that was strapped around his ankle.

"Don't I get a gun?"

"Bones! Not this again!"

"I'm serious Booth! It could be dangerous, I might need one for protection".

"For the last time Bones, I'm your gun…"

"But Booth I-"

"-Where would you ever put a gun Bones? There's no hidden compartment in that dress is there?" Booth asked teasingly, smirking devilishly at his partner.

Brennan rolled her eyes at his joke.

"Well, let's go!" Booth said suddenly, jumping into action.

Huffing angrily Brennan stepped out of the car and stood waiting on Booth to lock it.

When they were ready, Brennan entwined their arms and they set off, across the road and towards the club.

"Who calls a club the Blackened Heart?" Brennan murmured sceptically as they approached.

Booth just shook his head at her as they walked up to a large, bald man who was obviously head of security.

"Names?" he asked gruffly, staring shamelessly down at Brennan's cleavage.

Booth gripped her tighter as if to stop her from suddenly lunging forward and attacking him, but it was really to vent out his annoyance at the man ogling her, but he'd never admit that to her obviously.

"Tony Scallion, and my _fiancé _Roxie Bledel", smirked Booth, putting extra emphasis on the word fiancé.

Brennan rolled her eyes at Booth's tone but remained silent as the security guard checked the big clip-board he had filled with lines and lines of names.

"Tony Scallion's here but there ain't no Roxie Bledel…" the guy informed them, with a slight smirk on his face.

Booth glared at him with piercing eyes.

"Are you sure? Check again!"

"Hey man don't tell me how to do my job or I won't let no one in at all!"

Brennan gripped Booth's arm tightly and whispered so low that the guard couldn't hear.

"Booth…be nice…you won't get anywhere by aggravating or intimating this man, he's bigger then you!" she hissed.

This, it seemed, was not what Booth wanted to hear.

Suddenly he was standing up a lot straighter, and Brennan could feel him flexing his muscles under his shirt.

He turned away from her and stood (as straight and tall as he could) up to the guy.

"Look man, maybe it say Tony Scallion plus one, huh? Does it say that?" he asked, in what Brennan thought was quite a condescending tone.

The security guy, obviously depicted some sort of belittling tone and glared at Booth, but checked nonetheless.

After a moment he shook his head and said loudly, imitating Booth's early condescending tone, "no it just says Tony Scallion. No plus one, no Roxie Bledel."

Booth rolled his eyes and huffed angrily.

"Look, can't you just let her in-"

"-Is there a problem?" a quiet, drawling tone asked, as a man stepped out of the shadows.

Booth and Brennan looked up with interest.

A man, in his mid-thirties, stood before them.

Brennan could tell that he was a very wealthy man. He wore an expensive-looking black suit, with crisp white shirt that was open at the top. He was tall, around the same height as Booth, with light brown hair and piercing green eyes. She could tell that he was extremely well built as his Pectoral and Deltoid muscles were clearly visible even under two layers of clothing.

Overall, Brennan had to admit that she found his appearance quite sexually stimulating.

Booth looked from Brennan to the suit-wearing man and back to Brennan.

He wrapped his arms tighter around her as if to remind her that he was still there.

Brennan, suddenly shook out of her reverie by Booth pulling her closer to him, merely smiled softly at their new arrival, not glancing at her partner once.

When neither of them answered, the man shook his head and said, "hi, I'm Luke Piscotti," outstretching his hand for Booth to shake.

"Tony, Tony Scallion", Booth grumbled, shaking his head firmly in the tightest grip he could manage.

If Booth had hurt Piscotti, he certainly didn't show it.

"And this beautiful woman is…?" he asked, in a suave tone, addressing Brennan.

Temperance fought the urge to yell at him for addressing her in such a manner, but instead flirtatiously replied, "Roxie, Roxie Bledel", sliding her arm off Booth to shake his hand.

She didn't replace it.

Booth twitched suddenly as he felt the warmth of her arms leave him for the second time that night, but desperately tried to ignore it, as he took his arm off from around her waist.

"Well, I am the proud owner of this place Roxie and I hereby say that its fine for you and your…_friend_…to join us at our little get-together", Luke smiled, "care to join me?" he asked, extended his arm for Brennan to loop her's through.

Brennan willed herself not to look at Booth as she graciously accepted Luke's arm and began to make her way into the club.

Booth watched them go for a moment, trying to control his raging temper and rapid breathing before gritting his teeth and following them.

Looks like they wouldn't be able to 'scope' out the place after all.

It was going to be a long night…

* * *

When they entered the club, Booth instantly lost his partner, which unnerved him a little. He searched desperately for her, remaining silent, not wanting to draw attention to himself but she was nowhere to be seen.

After about a half an hour, Booth decided to get a beer, for something to do he told himself, but it was more to calm his nerves at the thought of his partner with some stranger.

He had to keep telling himself that she could handle herself.

He trotted over to the bar and ordered a beer.

It was after his second when he heard a familiar tone.

"Well hello again", the honey-laced voice of Ella Banks floated over to the ears of Seeley Booth from behind as he stood at the bar in the private function room.

"Well hello to you too…" Booth replied, just as flirtatiously, trying to put the thoughts of his partner to the back of his mind.

"I see you got in okay…I can invite anyone you want you see…" she murmured, walking straight over to him and placing her arm on his shoulder.

It was now he realised that she wasn't wearing her bar-tender's uniform.

She was wearing a very sexy black dress.

"Oh really…and why is that?" he asked, trying desperately to pretend he was interested in what she had to say.

"Well…Luke Piscotti owns this joint, and he's an old friend so…he let's me have gentlemen friends visit…" she cooed, her hand rubbing up and down his shoulder gently.

_Like Mike Johnston? _Booth couldn't help but wonder.

"Am I the first?" he smirked, leaning closer to her.

Ella leaned forward too, bringing her lips a mere inch away from his ear.

"No…but you might be the last…if you play your cards right…" she giggled, putting the palm on his hands on his chest.

Booth flashed her his award-winning charm smile as he heard her words.

It might be worth talking to her after all…

* * *

"So…Roxie…won't your friend mind you dancing with me?" Luke Piscotti asked Brennan after taking about himself for almost two hours, and boring her to the tears.

Brennan wrapped her arms tighter around his neck completely ignoring the part of her brain that told her to run and run quickly, and murmured seductively, "well…what he doesn't know won't hurt him…right?"

Luke laughed heartily at her answer. "I like your way of thinking…come with me…I wanna show you something…"

Brennan allowed herself to be led off the dance-floor, feeling an odd déjà vu wash over her as she thought about the night before with Steve.

_Did they want to show her the same thing?_

_Or was it just some Pittsburgh sexual innuendo?_

_And where the hell was Booth?_

Piscotti led Brennan off the dance-floor and across the room, through a large oak door and down a long, narrow corridor.

Brennan was beginning to grow uneasy as they wound further and further away from the exit.

"Where are we going?" she managed to ask, trying to imitate a sound of excitement rather than unease.

Luke just glanced back at her and even in the dim lighting, Brennan managed to still see his flashing, 'you-wait-and-see' smile.

Finally, the two stopped at a large, golden door.

Brennan squinted her eyes as the door gave off such a glare even in the gloomy lit room.

"This, Foxy Roxie is our VIP room…for only the most special people…" murmured Luke, reaching forward and stroking Brennan's neck lightly with the back of his index finger, and all the way down her arm.

Brennan forced herself not to shiver at his touch. Suddenly she no longer found him sexually alluring, she just found him, for lack of a better word, creepy.

She merely nodded, finding she was unable to speak.

Luke took his hands off her for a moment and entered a code into a little electronic devise on the door.

After a moment it clicked and the golden door swung open slowly.

Brennan gasped as she saw what was inside.

There were beautiful, coloured flowers lining dozens of tables, a massive dance-floor that could comfortably fit a hundred people lay in the middle of the room, there was a bar measuring about twenty-five meters long lining the back of the room with hundreds of exotic looking bottles on the shelves and finally, at the end of the room, there was a huge stage that stood a band playing really tasteful music.

"You like it?" asked Luke as one of the few waiters walked by with a tray of champagne.

Grabbing two glasses, he handed Brennan one and held his up.

"A toast, to new friends…"

Brennan clinked her glass with his and drank deeply from it, her eyes scanning the room attentively.

There were only a few lingering people throughout the room, maybe eighty in total. Brennan's eyes passed them uninterestedly before suddenly, she spotted a familiar figure, standing at the bar, with a small, blond-haired woman hanging out of him.

_Booth._

Brennan gripped her glass tighter at the sight of them.

The blonde, it seemed, had had a little too much too drink and was laughing a little too loudly at whatever Booth had said to her. Her hands were a little too low and under the bottom of his shirt as she talked, and she stood a little too close to him, her hips grinding into his and her's lips a centimetre away from his…

Luke followed Brennan's gaze towards the bar and rolled his eyes.

Suddenly he stormed over towards the couple, dragging Brennan with him.

"Ella!" he scolded, "what have I told you about your behaviour, god I could-"

"Oh shut up Luke you don't own me!"

"I'm your husband-"

"-Oh don't spring that on me you ass! You're my ex-husband!"

Booth frowned. _Old friend my ass!_

The couple fought relentlessly, screaming at each other as Brennan and Booth just watched on.

No one else seemed to be paying the slightest bit of attention to them however, this seemed to be a regular occurrence.

Booth stepped quietly over to his partner, willing not to be noticed by the screaming pair.

"Well…you think its time to blow this joint? Its getting late…" he murmured to her.

Brennan looked at her watch, it was eleven already.

She nearly gasped in surprise. Luke had been talking longer then she thought.

"Should we announce our departure?" Brennan asked quietly, stepping closer to Booth.

"The way they're goin' at it, I doubt they'll even notice…c'mon…" he mumbled, striding past her quickly.

Brennan frowned as she saw this. Usually he was the one to usher her, placing his hand on the small of her back and leading her, but not tonight…

* * *

Seeley Booth walked into the large hotel room and sat down on the couch heavily.

He was not looking forward to sleeping on it again tonight.

His partner, Temperance Brennan, was in the bathroom, getting changed out of her fancy dark-blue dress.

The two had sat in a odd silence coming back in the car.

Brennan was confused at Booth's reluctance to make conversation and Booth was puzzled at why he himself was reluctant to talk.

Now that they were back though, it seemed they were obliged to talk, at least Temperance thought so anyway.

"So…what did you find out from the drunk blonde?" she asked, trying not to sound bitter as she walked out of the bathroom and sat on the bed.

Booth turned his head to glance at her. It had been the first night were he had properly seen her in her pyjamas. She always sped straight from the bed to the bathroom and back under the covers before he could really see her.

Now that he did he could only draw one conclusion.

She was cute and beautiful in no matter what she wore…or didn't wear for that matter.

Shaking his head he willed himself to listen to what she just asked him and form an appropriate response.

"Oh yeah she sang like a bird once she got some white wine spritzers down her."

"So you didn't need to sleep with her?" Brennan asked cheekily.

Booth made a face at her and continued, "no, I didn't. Her fondness of alcohol did that for me. Long story short, Mike was her newest boyfriend. She had a lot over the years… he had a fight with Piscotti who I know now is Ella's ex-husband so it was more then likely about her-"

"-You can't prove that Booth," Brennan interjected.

Booth rolled his eyes.

"Oh c'mon Bones! A man is going out with someone's ex-wife, flaunts it in the ex-husband's face…things are bound to get heated!"

Brennan stood up and stormed over to him, she didn't know why but Booth's tone was making her extremely angry.

"Damn it Booth! You can't just say these things without any proof! There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that tells us that they were fighting over that blonde!" she spat, glaring down at him, her hands on her hips.

Booth's eyes drank in his partner's appearance.

Her hair was scraped back into a pony-tail, some of it coming down as she yelled at him, her baggy sweatpants and camisole t-shirt had matching designs making her look about twelve…and yet why was it that Booth never found her to be more sexy?

It suddenly felt wrong. So…instead of continuing his inner-appreciation of his partner, Booth did what he did best with his partner and bickered.

Booth stood up slowly from the couch, bringing his face down so close to his partner's he could count her eyelashes.

" It's like I told you before Bones, it's called positing a scenario! It's what FBI agents do…" he said in a argumentative tone, speaking to Brennan as if she were a child.

This seemed to only anger her more.

Standing up on her tip-toes (as she hated when he towered over her) she glared right up into his face.

"Don't you dare talk to me as if I were a child! Why you-"

She was cut off suddenly by the sound of her cell phone ringing.

The two partners glared at each other for a moment, each one both nervous at their proximity but both too angered to care.

After a moment Brennan got irritated and stormed away to answer her phone.

Snatching it up angrily, she opened it and snapped "Brennan!"

"Sweetie, it's me are you okay?" asked the soft, worried tone of her best friend, Angela Montenegro.

Brennan instantly calmed upon hearing her friend's voice.

"Oh yes Angela, I'm fine, what's up?"

Booth watched with a suspicious expression as Brennan listened quietly.

She had begun frowning in the middle of the conversation and was now only uttering, "yes" and "umm…" every so often.

Just when he was about to ask her what was wrong, Brennan snapped her phone shut and silently made her way over to her bed-side table, took out her laptop, turned it on and connected to the internet.

Instantly, the image of Angela filled the screen and Brennan turned to usher Booth to sit beside her on the bed.

"Hey Booth…" Angela cooed gently.

Seeley could tell instantly that there was something wrong.

"Angela, what's wrong?" he asked, his voice warning her not to mess with him.

She seemed unsurprised at him sensing trouble and just took a deep breath, "sweetie, something came for you today…"

Throughout the whole ordeal, Brennan found herself staring at Booth.

When Angela explained to him that he got a package in the mail and Cullen brought it personally to the Jeffersonian.

When Cam came into view and told him that she opened it, what she found inside, instantly testing the blood and coming back with a positive match.

When Hodgins appeared and read out the note that was attached, telling him that he found no trace of particulates, and finally when Sweets filled the screen and told them the little bits of profile he managed to gain on the kidnapper.

The whole time, Brennan watched her partner silently, as he processed the information.

After everyone was finished Booth just hung his head low, thanked the squinted for everything they found out, assured them that he would keep them updated and stood up off the bed and away from Brennan.

Temperance watched him go silently, her heart breaking at the sight of him.

He looked so lost, so defeated, so broken.

She wished the gang back in Washington goodnight, promising Angela she would call her in the morning, closed down the laptop, walked over to where Booth sat on the couch, sat down and put her hand on his shoulder.

After a moment, she felt his head rest on her shoulder.

"My brother is perfect, always has been, never made a mistake in his whole life. I am the disappointment in the family. I'm the one with the gambling problem, I'm the one who had a child out of wedlock, I'm the one who's killed people…and now I've screwed up again!" he spat bitterly, his voice barely above a whisper as he and his partner sat thigh-to-thigh in the dimly lit room.

Brennan rested her hand on his arm gently, wishing she knew just what to say to make everything better.

"Booth…you aren't a disappointment. You are a wonderful man, yes you've had your problems but who hasn't? Yes, you had a son out of wedlock but you're the best father I've ever known. Parker loves you just the way you are, whether you're married to his mother or not. And as for killing people well…you were ending the lives of bad people who hurt innocent people, children. You were just a man doing his best to make the world a better place, you still are…" Brennan mumbled, her hold on his arm growing tighter as she talked.

They sat in silence for a moment, listening to the noise of the cars on the street outside.

"How am I going to tell my parents that their over-achieving, perfect son is missing and might end up dead all because of me?" he croaked, and Brennan could feel him shake softly.

Brennan turned herself around to look at him, bringing her palm out to cup his cheek like he had done with her on many occasion, forcing him to look at her.

"I'll be there to help Booth…whatever you need…I'll be there…" she mumbled, hoping that it was enough.

A small smile graced his lips as said this, and before either of them knew what was happening, Brennan had leant forward and kissed his cheek softly, her lips connecting with his skin for a few moments.

As she withdrew she saw that Booth seemed a little shocked and was trying to recover.

She stood up suddenly and looked down at him before gathering up his blanket and pillow.

"Bones? What are you-"

"-C'mon you better help me."

"Help you with what?"

"You're not sleeping on that couch another night Booth. I heard you tossing and turning the whole night last night, and you need your sleep. So c'mon help me get your stuff to the bed…"

Booth merely gaped at her as she began to throw pillows onto the left side of her bed and fix the duvet.

She couldn't be serious.

"Bones I-"

"-Booth it is not up for discussion. We are two grown adults and I refuse to take no for an answer. Now go and get changed and be back here in five minutes!" she demanded, firmly planting her hands on her waist as if silently daring him to disobey her.

Seeley Booth was stubborn, not stupid.

He never got changed so fast in his entire life…

Brennan was already in bed, sitting up, reading a book with her bed-side lamp on when he returned from the bathroom.

He wore just a baggy pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt but he felt as if he were naked.

Not that it mattered, she had already seen him naked, he remembered with a grimace.

He walked around the side of the bed nervously, and without looking at her climbed into the bed quickly and tried to scoot as far away from her as humanly possible without falling out.

Brennan, upon seeing that he was ready, lay down her book onto the table and reached up to turn off the light.

As she scooted down the bed and got comfortable she mumbled quietly, "goodnight Booth…"

Booth bit his lip for a moment as he lay staring at the ceiling.

"Goodnight Bones…" he replied, hoping that he didn't hear the strain in his voice.

Yes, sleeping on the hotel couch was difficult, but sleeping in a bed, (comfortable or not) with Temperance Brennan was damn right impossible!

He was going to be one tired man in the morning, that's for sure!

* * *

Mike Johnston smiled wickedly as he thought to himself.

Seeley Booth had received his package by now, he was sure of it.

Leaning forward he beamed at the man that sat opposite him tied to a chair, barely conscious, dripping blood.

"Now boys…" he began, addressing his two minions, "we have successfully attacked Seeley's Booth's blood. Jared here has been extremely useful for that. But you know what really breaks a man down?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.

When he got none, he just huffed and lunged forward, clutching his former-friend by the jaw, making him yell out painfully as he was forced to look him in the eye.

"We attack his heart!" Mike spat, as Jared looked on fearfully.

"And you know how we do that?" he asked, his nose a mere inch away from Jared's, his cold, grey eyes boring into his.

Jared shook his head, although he thought he already knew the answer.

"We go after the one he loves!" Mike yelled in triumph.

Shifting closer to him, his hissed quietly to the fearful man, "now Jared man, tell me all about this partner of Seeley's, Temperance Brennan…"

* * *

**A/N: OMFG! That was one LONG chapter! I think my fingers are going to fall off from all the typing! Thank god that's over… Okay, I know its asking a lot, after you guys just read so much but please leave me a review if you have the time. I really wouldn't want to have wasted hours of my time for nothing… Thankies xx**


	15. Awkward Positions and Awful Phone Calls

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 15: Awkward Positions and Awful Phone-Calls**

**A/N: Wow…I just want to take this time out to thank all my reviewers. I was really shocked after I read all the reviews from the last chapter, I really wasn't expecting many as you guys were probably tired from all the reading lol! I'm just getting worse I'm afraid, as this is another long chapter! Not as long as the last one mind you…but long enough! Enjoy xx**

The soft rays of sunlight crept through the slit in the curtains and cast shadows upon the darkened floor.

A body stirred gently as the light made it's way up the large hotel bed and resided on their eyes.

Squinting desperately the figure shifted and turned their head to the side, their cheek connecting with something delicately soft.

The forehead furrowed in confusion as the hand began to sense something, it was resting on a flat surface, but a surface that was rising up and down in a soft rhythm.

The arms were now conscious of the fact that they had themselves wrapped around something, something that was slender and petite.

The figure was now so curious, that they allowed their chocolate-brown eyes open for a fraction of a second.

Peering in the near-darkness of the morning, the eyes cast around themselves, immediately recognising the familiar hotel room and furnishings.

This was not what was so confusing however.

'_This isn't the couch'_, the mind reminded itself.

The surface under his hand shifted slightly causing the eyes of the very confused Seeley Booth to widen.

'_And that definitely is NOT the bed'_, he thought panicking, his head snapping down to immediately reveal something that made the agent's heart jump to his throat.

There, lying quite snugly, her head resting firmly on his chest, was Dr. Temperance Brennan, sound asleep, breathing gently.

There she was, his partner, his beautiful partner, cuddled up to him like a wife would her husband, blissfully unaware that he, Seeley Booth, had both arms fully wrapped around her small form.

Booth knew if she did, she'd kick his ass from here into another century!

He realised that the soft surface his stubble-covered cheek connected with was her beautiful auburn hair.

As he stared down at her he noticed that the soft waves had come out of her ponytail and was now flowing freely about her shoulders, some spilling onto his chest, directly beside where the palm of her left hand resided.

'_Bones is lying on me, her head and hand are on my chest, I've my arms wrapped around her…this is not good…so it shouldn't feel so right…' _Booth thought, his mind reeling as his heart-beat quickened considerably.

_How was it that they ended up like this again? _Booth struggled trying to remember.

Suddenly bursts of images flashed before his eyes of the memories from the night before.

Bones comforting him when he got scared for Jared, her long arms wrapping around his shoulders tightly. Going to the club where he lost her and found her again. Going back to the hotel room where Angela had contacted them about Jared's shirt…Brennan comforting him again…her lips gently brushing his cheek…

Booth sighed deeply as his eyes remained glued on his sleeping partner.

He sighed for the hardship in his life.

He sighed for the exhaustion he felt, both physical tiredness and emotional drain.

And finally, he sighed for the utter feeling of content that washed over him as he lay in bed with his 'off-limits' partner.

_Why was life always so unkind to him?_

_What did he do to deserve this?_

He already found it torture that he was in a partnership with a woman he had dangerously deep feelings for, so why was God punishing him by making Temperance Brennan cuddle up to him?

Booth wasn't even aware that his so-called 'clinical' and 'emotionless' partner was the cuddling-type.

_Maybe she just never found the right man? _Seeley couldn't help but think, or rather hope.

He began having an inner-battle with himself as he tried to figure out what to do…

_Should I move? Get up?_

_No…you'll wake Bones…_

_But if she wakes up and sees us lying like this she'll freak out…_

_But on the other hand if I wake her she'll be mad…so its better if I just let her sleep…_

_Right…and is that the only reason why you want to stay like this? _a sarcastic voice suddenly asked him, he instantly realised it sounded oddly like a certain cheeky artist he knew.

Booth moved his head slowly and glanced down at his partner's face.

She looked so different as she slept. So care-free, so calm, so innocent an free from all pain.

He never wanted to stop looking at her, stop staring at her beauty, but he knew he had to.

He tried desperately to drag his left arm gently out from under her (where it had been wrapped around her waist) but found it was greatly difficult.

Then, he got the bright idea of trying to move her hand off his chest, which resulted in his hand being trapped under her's and she clutching it close to her, placing it under her palm which now resided on her hip.

Booth jumped slightly as he felt the soft skin of her hip connect delicately with his fingers.

_This is not very partner-like, men do not touch their 'just partners' like this…_his mind quietly told him.

Biting his lip softly, he knew that it was utterly useless. There was no way he was getting out of the bed unnoticed.

_But was he truly disappointed?_

The voice that greatly resembled Angela's utterly a dignified _"NO!"_

Smirking to himself, he decided to settle back down (just for a moment) and rest his eyes.

Suddenly, he could feel his chocolate eyes become heavy, his eye lids closing slightly.

_Was this really a good idea? _

_He was falling asleep whilst openly knowing that he and his partner were in quite an odd position…literally…_

But it seemed that the tiredness of the poor agent won out overall, and no matter how much he strived to, he could not stay awake a moment longer.

His breathing became slower…deeper…until he was sound asleep…

* * *

The body of Temperance Brennan stirred slightly as she felt the soft rays of sunlight basked her face.

The palm of her hand twitched minutely, feeling something resting underneath it.

She tensed her fingers and they instantly enclosed around what she knew to be the interphalangeal and metacarpophalangeal joints, the proximal phalanx and metacarpal bones of a left hand.

Her brow furrowed in confusion.

_Why is there a left hand belonging to another human being lying underneath mine?_

_And what on earth is my head resting on? That is definitely not my pillow…unless my pillow can respire…_

Very slowly, she began to open her eyes a fraction and was instantly met with a mass of black fabric with the words "FB Eye Candy" written on it.

Rolling her eyes at her partner's egotistical garments, Temperance Brennan turned her head, her eyes widening at what she saw.

It must have been the early-morning grogginess but she was now only realising that her head was resting on Booth's chest.

Upon further inspection Brennan's eyes began to get wider and wider with shock.

Not only was her head on his chest, but her hand was clutching his hand too, but that wasn't what made the anthropologist's heart beat faster…

It was the fact that the arms of her partner, (the very muscular and strong arms she noted) were wrapped around her waist, one completely under her back and the other across her stomach, both meeting at her hip, pulling her ever-closer to him, as his chin lolled close to the top of her head.

_Well this is quite the…position…_she thought nervously, realising that the left hand of Booth's that she clung to was not only being pulled down to clutch in her's but it was touching the exposed skin of her hip.

But even with that being so, to her own surprise Temperance did not panic as quickly and as deeply as she would have originally thought.

She just lay there, her hand still clutched around Booth's, listening intently to his soft breathing, allowing her head to minutely bob up and down in sync with his breathing.

_Why didn't this bother her? She never was the affectionate/cuddling-type when sharing her bed with any other man…_

_So why was Booth so different?_

_How did they end up this way anyway?_

_I must have been cold…and Booth was a valuable heat-source, _Brennan thought to herself, _that is the only reason for my 'cuddling-up' to Booth._

_Oh denial, thy name is Brennan_, a little voice said in the back of her mind, a voice which sounded oddly familiar.

Temperance rolled her eyes at her own conscious. It really could irritate her at the best of times.

After laying silently content for another few moments, enjoying the utmost tranquillity of it all, Temperance's special rationality began to come into play.

_What the hell are you doing? You're cuddling up in bed with your partner! How is he going to react if he wakes up and sees you like this?_

Her mind began screaming at her, desperately trying to convince her that what they were doing was wrong.

Suddenly her brain began to make a world of sense and the brilliant scientist began to panic.

_Oh god. Booth cannot wake up and find us like this, he just can't! There's a line, a line that is becoming dangerously close to us, we can't pass it, we just can't!_

Her eyes bulging and her heart heaving heavily with the new-found anxiousness, Brennan released Booth's hand lightly and began to dry and dislodge herself from her partner's tight embrace.

Her efforts were rather pointless however, as it seemed, even in sleep, her partner was far stronger then she, although she would never, ever, admit it.

Her hands clawed at his large right hand that was clutched at her hip but it wouldn't budge.

Sighing deeply with frustration she knew there was only just one alternative, she'd have to wake him up.

"Booth…" she mumbled, bringing up her hand to clutch his and drag it off her hip.

There was no response from her partner even when she began to shake his arm.

"Booth!" she spoke louder , placing her palm on his chest and shaking him roughly.

Seeley groaned and mumbled something incoherent before turning slightly in the bed.

Rolling her eyes she shoved him as hard as she could.

Her partner snorted and jerked awake abruptly.

"What the-" he began to ask, before his head snapped down and was met by the irritated gaze of Temperance Brennan.

"Oh…h-hey Bones…" he mumbled sleepily, his eyes widening slightly.

Brennan stared at him with her 'squinty-gaze', before adverting her sea-blue orbs to her hip, where Booth's hand still lay.

Booth's chocolate orbs followed intently and his mouth dropped open with shock.

"I need you to release me Booth, I'd like to get dressed…" Brennan smirked up into his face as she saw him immediately redden with embarrassment.

"Uh…right, s-sorry…" he stuttered, instantly dropping his arms from her, scurrying away from her rapidly.

Brennan frowned as he did so, as his arms left her she felt…_odd…cold…empty… _

Shaking her head vigorously and willing those niggling un-wanted thoughts from her mind, Temperance scrambled up off the bed and turned on her heel, striding towards the bathroom without a backwards glance.

Booth's chest heaved heavily as he watched her go.

_Well, that was…awkward…_

* * *

To say that the silence that the two partners found themselves in was uncomfortable was the understatement of the century.

Booth found himself tapping his car keys against the round, wooden table as he waited on his breakfast whilst his partner tucked into her breakfast, or rather brunch as it was already passed noon.

"Will you stop that?!" Temperance exclaimed suddenly, growing rather irritated at her partner's fidgeting.

Seeley's hand ceased the obsessive tapping and turned to look at the beautiful woman sitting beside him.

He was utterly mesmerised by her beauty and he knew she was completely unaware of that fact.

"Sorry…" he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Glancing at the clock Booth found that it was already 12:55.

His heart began to race as he knew he would be getting his phone call soon.

Suddenly, a waitress appeared with his order and laid it down on front of him.

Frowning down at it, he realised he was no longer hungry.

Temperance glanced at him oddly as he remained motionless, staring at his plate of pancakes.

"What's wrong Booth?" she asked quietly, leaning into him, feeling guilty for snapping.

Booth leaned away and shook his head mumbling, "nothing…nothing…"

The brunch passed fairly uneventfully, the two partners hardly conversing at all, each steeling awkward glances at one another as they both tried to forget the lovely predicament they found themselves in that morning.

After they were finished the two stood up and made their way out to the balcony and found themselves looking down at the hustle and bustle of the early-morning city, from two storeys up.

The sky was a bright blue, peeking shyly out of the fluffy clouds, there was a chill in the air.

The partners leaned on the railing, several strides apart, utterly alone and both found themselves taking a deep, calming breath.

After a few moments of the less-then-comfortable silence Booth straightened up and stretched, and Brennan found herself watching his body move with great interest, suddenly she found her voice.

"I'm coming Booth."

Booth whirled around menacingly, taking a large stride towards her until they stood a mere foot apart on the small terrace.

"No, you're not!" he growled in the most final and demanding tone he could muster.

"Don't tell me-"

"-I'll tell you whatever the hell I want Bones 'cause there's one thing for certain, no matter what you say or do, its not going to make me bring you!"

Brennan's eyes flashed with something Booth failed to recognise as she stared at something over his shoulder, before lunging forward suddenly and kissing him soundly on the lips.

Booth stumbled back in shock as his partner's lips collided with his in a powerful embrace.

His mind grew foggy and the world began to slip away, but before he had the chance to respond to her touch, she broke it and stepped away from him pointedly.

Silence engulfed them.

Before Seeley could ask her what the hell sort of drugs she was on, he felt something tap his shoulder.

"Excuse me Mr Scallion, I was just wondering would you be needing any fresh towels for your suite?" asked Daisy the hotel employee who had just walked through the hotel glass door and out onto the balcony were the couple stood, again she ignored Brennan and flashed her pearly whites only at Booth.

Brennan laced her arm around his neck before replying sickeningly sweet "no we're fine thank you".

Daisy glared down at 'Roxie' who remained utterly calm and unaffected, the young blonde could tell this was one battle she would not win.

This woman did not cave to intimidation.

When the receptionist turned out her heel and stalked off, back through the door and into the hotel, Booth turned to Brennan (who still had her arm laced around him) and gazed confusedly at her.

"What the hell was that?" he croaked, feeling as if he had slipped into a dream.

_First he shared a bed with her, now she was kissing and practically groping him! What the hell was going on?_

"I was just saying that we don't require towels", Brennan replied innocently, withdrawing her arm from him and striding into the hotel, back over to their table, and ordering herself a coffee.

Booth gaped down at her as she sipped her coffee quietly.

She just completely ignored what just happened.

"I was acting the part Booth…" she mumbled, answering his un-asked question.

Booth cleared his throat, "and here was me thinking you were just trying to convince me to let you come with me", he said slyly.

Brennan regarded him with interest for a moment, "why, would a kiss from me persuade you?"

Booth's mouth dropped open at what she implied but thankfully Brennan ignore him and continued with her rant.

"Its just that, I saw that woman, hovering around-which is something she seems to do a lot, and I was simply showing her that we were a couple so she wouldn't get the wrong idea and hit on you".

Booth nodded as he remained standing, drinking in her words.

"So you were assuring her that I was your's?" he asked, with a ghost of a smirk, dropping into the chair opposite her.

Brennan looked as if she had swallowed something particularly nasty.

"Absolutely not! I do not believe that an individual 'owns' another individual, that concept is ridiculous Booth! I was merely acting my part, Roxie would definitely not stand for such obvious displays of attraction from another woman towards Tony, they are supposed to be engaged after all!" Brennan said hotly.

Booth shook his head, "I thought you said they were engaged-to-be-engaged?"

Brennan looked livid and opened her mouth to reply, but before she could a loud sound interrupted her.

The two partners merely stared at one another as Booth's cell phone continued to ring.

The anthropologist clawed at her watch and her heart sank as she read that it was exactly 1:30.

"Its them", she mumbled unnecessarily as it was obvious her partner knew well whom the caller was.

As if in slow motion Brennan watched with bated breath as Booth opened his phone and brought it up to his ear.

"Booth", he croaked into the speaker.

"_Special Agent Seeley Booth, what a pleasure it is", _came a mechanical voice that obviously was digitally enhanced.

"Who-" Booth began to ask but was cut off abruptly.

_"-I'll be doing the talking Agent Booth so pay attention. When our conversation is over, I want you to get in your car alone and drive about three miles west until you see a diner called Frank's. There will be a pay-phone out front and under it you will find an envelop, here you will find your second set of instructions. Remember no companions or there will be consequences! You have thirty minutes on a busy road Agent Booth, better hurry"._

The line went dead.

Booth took the phone away from his ear.

The two partners now sat in stunned silence, both gaping wide-eyed at the phone Booth held in his hands.

Slowly, he flipped it closed.

As soon as he heard it snap shut he leaped into action. Standing up he shoved his keys into his pocket, smoothed down his clothes, and placed his hand on his breast pocket where Brennan knew his gun resided.

The scientist watched mutely as her partner readied himself, standing up also.

"I'm going to get the car", he mumbled to her, immediately beginning his mad dash to the hotel entrance.

Brennan, hot on his heels, followed him out into the parking lot silently.

Seeley stopped abruptly as the blue mustang came into view.

Suddenly, he turned to Brennan and rested his hand on her shoulder.

No words were passed between them, but their expression said it all.

Taking a deep breath, Booth looked deeply into the beautiful eyes of his partner once last time, before stepping closer to the car and opening it, his back turned.

As he lay one hand on the door handle, he turned to glance at his partner as if it were the last time they'd ever see each other.

"Please Bones, just stay here, go up to the room and lock the door and don't open it until I get back, I'm begging you…" he pleaded, his eyes glistening brightly in the shinning sun.

At the look on his face, Brennan bit back her retort and settled for a quick nod of her head.

Words failed her…

…For a moment…

"BOOTH!" she yelled frantically, making him whirl around in shock.

He placed his hand over his heart dramatically, "geez Bones, you nearly gave me a heart-attack! What?"

He could practically see the wheels in her brain spinning a million miles per second, her forehead frowned in concentration.

"I-I just thought of something…they-they know we're in Pittsburgh", she responded with a tone of finality.

Booth threw her a confused expression, "what-"

"-I heard the guy say on the phone, go west for about 3 miles. But go west where Booth? He must know where we are!"

Her words hit Seeley Booth like a bolt of lightening.

Brennan could instantly see a look of realisation pass over the agent's face, confirming he understood her.

"You're…you're right. Whoever it is, has to know where we are or else they would know I wouldn't get their next message in this sick game of theirs, I can't believe I didn't realise, you're-you're brilliant Bones!" Booth exclaimed, throwing her a smile charm-smile.

Brennan nodded, never the one to pass over a compliment and murmured, "yeah, yeah, just go on, hurry, the guy said you only have half an hour so you better get going…"

Booth nodded, remembering himself, turned, and opened the door of the car.

"And Booth?" he heard his partner say from behind him.

"Yeah?" he asked, his back still turned.

"Be careful".

He nodded once more, got into the car, and slammed the door.

He glanced out the window where he could see his beautiful partner standing there, looking like a creature from heaven in her pale-blue silk dress, the sun omitting an angelic glow off her hair.

He sighed at the sight of her and rolled down the window.

"Bones…go back inside and wait, I'll be back as soon as I can", he murmured, finding that he was unable to meet her gaze.

He could tell that she was not one bit pleased, but nevertheless did as she was asked and began to walk back towards the hotel.

Booth waited until he saw he walk through the lobby, towards the elevators of the hotel, before starting up the engine and driving out of the parking lot-heading west.

Temperance heard the roar of the engine from inside.

She bit her lip as she felt her heart pang with nervousness, this was going to be the longest half hour of her life.

* * *

It was quite a hot and sunny day in Pittsburgh.

The scenery was quite pleasing to the eye, birds were chirping in the trees, there were people traipsing around with large shopping bags and even more people having all sorts of fun in the nearby park.

But all this beauty was lost on the special agent that now pulled up at a small diner at the corner of the street.

He was too busy staring intently at a pay-phone that resided at the edge of the parking lot.

Slowly he pulled up in his mustang, parked, and stepped out of the car.

Tentively, he made his way towards the lone pay-phone, in such a manner it was almost as if the agent thought it might blow up.

But in his line of work, even that was a possibility.

As he reached out and touched the phone, he let out a sigh of relief as it didn't explode.

_Good, _he thought himself, _that's a good sign, now…where's that card…_

Extending his hand he reached down to the end of the pay-phone and began searching.

He let out a little grunt of triumph as he felt the square paper in the palm of his hand.

He pulled it roughly out and stared at the envelop for a moment, breathing deeply, almost afraid of what could be inside.

Biting his lip, he turned it over and began to open it.

He pulled out a small piece of white card with black, bold, typed, writing-same as the first.

Silently he began to read.

**GOOD DAY AGENT BOOTH, WELL DONE FOR MAKING IT THIS FAR. I SUPPOSE BY NOW YOU HAVE REALISED THAT WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. NICE LITTLE PLACE PITTSBURGH ISN'T IT? I BET YOU ENJOYED LIVING HERE AS A CHILD…**

**NOW THAT I'VE GOT YOUR ATTENTION, DO EXACTLY AS I SAY, I'M SURE I DON'T NEED TO REMIND YOU WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON'T.**

**GO BACK TO THE GRAND HOTEL YOU AND YOUR PARTNER ARE STAYING AT, THERE YOU WILL FIND A LITTLE SURPRISE WAITING FOR YOU.**

**UNTIL WE NEXT COMMUNICATE.**

Booth's eyes widened as he finished reading.

_What the hell? This doesn't tell me anything, they brought me out here for nothing what… _Booth's thoughts trailed off as something suddenly hit him.

"Oh my God, BONES!" he yelled frantically, before racing back to his car, jumping into the front seat, and speeding off down the road at a break-neck speed.

_It was all a diversion! Damn! Why didn't he realise that? He just hoped he got back in time…_

_He just had to…_

Temperance Brennan stepped out of the elevator and made her way down the corridor towards room 13.

She could hear her heels scrape along the carpet as she fished for the room key in her shoulder bag.

Finding it, she slid the key-card into the slot in the door and waited impatiently for the light to turn green.

All she could think about was her partner, _where he was, if he was okay, the way his lips felt against her's…_

She shook her head vigorously at the last part, refusing to listen to the Angela inside her head, telling her that she was not just acting on 'Roxie's' behalf but her own also.

Withdrawing her key-card, she stepped into her suite lightly and kicked off her shoes, leaving them by the door.

Straightening up, she made her way over to the window to open the curtains.

She slid them open, her slender arms spreading wide.

Her sea-blue eyes caught something in the reflection-a dark figure standing behind her.

Her eyes widened and she reacted within a millisecond.

Whirling around she kicked out at the intruder, her foot connecting with their stomach and they stumbled back-giving her a chance to leap for the door. But suddenly another two men appeared from the bathroom and blocked her off, each grabbing a hold of one of her arms.

She began to yell with anguish but instantly could feel a cloth being pulled into her mouth and tied around her head from behind.

She fought with all her might to wriggle herself free.

Her elbow connected with the face of the figure on her left, whilst her heel stomped on the foot belonging to the figure on her left.

Just as she was about to lift her head to attack the figure on front of her, she could see a 32 calibre shinning gun glide towards her face, hitting her extremely hard.

Temperance's head began to spin and her vision grew fuzzy.

Her mind was screaming at her not to black out but it was inevitable.

She could feel the figures open the door and begin to drag her with them, the gleaming light of the corridor lights glared in her eyes and then…darkness…

* * *

Seeley Booth never ran so fast in his entire life.

He stormed across the parking lot of "The Grand Hotel", pushed passed several onlookers at the entrance, was too impatient to wait on the elevators so jumped up the stairs, taking four at a time, sped down the second floor corridor and burst into suite 13, leaving the door swinging off his hinges.

"BONES! BONES! WHERE ARE YOU?" he yelled frantically, dashing around the room.

He checked the bathroom, shower, bedroom, wardrobe, under the bed, anywhere he could possible think of and his heart sank when he found the shoes that she had been wearing, laying sprawled out on the floor beside the door.

"GOD DAMNIT!" he roared, kicking the wall.

_She was gone…_

Suddenly, something on the bed grabbed his attention, a small, white envelop.

Lunging forward, he snatched up the envelop and hungrily tore it open.

**A FIESTY WOMAN THAT PARTNER OF YOURS AGENT BOOTH. **

**I KNEW IN ADVANCE I'D NEED A COUPLE OF GUYS TO SORT HER OUT. I HOPE SHE'S SMART ENOUGH TO KEEP HER MOUTH SHUT WHEN WE'RE TRANSPORTING HER OR WHO KNOWS WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN.**

**NOW HERE'S THE DEAL. YOU ARE GOING TO BACK TO WASHINGTON TO THE JEFFERSONIAN INSTITUTE, THERE WILL BE A LITTLE PACKAGE ARRIVING FOR YOU LATER TODAY. WHEN YOU GET IT, YOU'LL KNOW WHAT TO DO.**

**DO AS I SAY AND NO HARM WILL COME TO YOUR BROTHER OR THAT SEXY SCIENTIST OF YOURS, I'LL MAKE SURE OF THAT.**

**FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN YOUR BROTHER'S DEATH AND LETS JUST SAY A LITTLE…FUN-TIME WITH THAT BEAUTIFUL WOMAN AND THEN A VERY, SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH.**

**YOU UNDERSTAND AGENT BOOTH?**

**YOU HAVE FOUR HOURS TO GET BACK TO WASHINGTON.**

**BETTER HURRY.**

**UNTIL WE NEXT COMMUNICATE.**

Hot, salty tears now began to spill out of the agent's eyes as he finished reading.

_They had taken her, they had taken Bones…_

He crumpled up the paper and began to frantically race around the room, gathering up both his and Bones' stuff.

He would make it back to Washington within the four hours, that was for sure.

He didn't give a rat's ass how many laws he'd have to break to do it…

**A/N: Well to be honest that chapter was a nightmare! I've been consistently writing, re-writing, editing and messing around with this chapter for the last six days! And I'm still not happy! All I have to say is I'm ecstatic its over!! Hope you all liked it! Wanna reward me?? Lol! -wired2damoon- xx**


	16. Packages And Pie

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 16: Packages And Pie**

"Well hey son what's-"

"-Sorry to interrupt Dad, but uh, I'm kinda in a hurry", Booth rambled as he sped towards the car rental place to drop back the Mustang.

"Seeley what-"

"-Are you sitting down Dad?" he asked nervously as he jumped out of the mustang and practically ran towards the rental office.

"Seeley James Booth what in the hell is the matter with you? Why are you so jumpy and keep interrupting me? It's disrespectful!"

"I'm sorry Dad it's just-" Booth paused for a moment as the clerk got him to sign a form and sped off to get his SUV from out the back.

"Just what Seeley? What's wrong? Has something happened to Jared?" his father asked worriedly.

_Oh yeah immediately ask about Jared-I'm fine by the way Dad, just still recovering from nearly dying a few months ago! _Seeley couldn't help but think bitterly, but the scolded himself for thinking such things at a time like this.

"Yeah, it's…it's about Jared…" he mumbled, banishing his thoughts.

"Well, spit it out!"

Booth took a deep breath to steady himself as his SUV pulled up in front of him.

Smiling grimly in thanks, he pulled open the door, leapt in and started the engine, the phone still clutched to his ear.

"Well dad-it's like this…"

Through the entire tale that Booth told his father, the older man remained utterly silent.

When Booth finished, he waited with bated breath for his father to say something.

"Dad what-"

"-We'll meet you at the Hoover Building in four hours!"

The line went dead.

Booth gaped in shock, merely listening to the dial tone as he finally pulled up at the J. Edgar Hoover Building after three hours and forty five minutes of speedy driving.

Quickly, he unbuckled his seat-belt and stormed into the building, dodging person after person until he was face to face with Deputy Director Cullen's office door.

On a normal day he would politely knock, but today he just burst in-startling his boss who was drinking a cup of coffee.

Cullen glared up at the man who so rudely intruded whilst wiping his tie furiously.

"Booth what the-"

"-Sir, we got a problem."

* * *

The activity throughout the Jeffersonian Institution was rapid and sleek.

Dozens of Grad Students were scampering about whilst their seniors observed or attended more important matters.

Five figures stood alone on the platform, hunched over a decomposing body, each one silent and face pensive. They had been standing like that for four hours already.

Both Dr. Hodgins and Dr. Sayoran poured over the body for hours, checking for any clue as to what might link the body to Jared Booth's missing case of he and the victim's brother Mike.

The results were the same. There were absolutely no link that could inform the team of anything that might be helpful.

All that was known was that Nick was a part of a drugs scandal (according to Booth) and that whoever was angry with him, definitely got their revenge. It was a violent and painful death.

At this point, all the team were growing impatient. None of them had heard from either Booth or Brennan in almost two days and they were beginning to feel left in the dark.

"Has there been any word for them?" Sweets asked the group eagerly, his high-pitched tone quite louder then usual.

Angela rolled her eyes and shook her head for what felt like the umpteenth time.

"No Dr. Sweets, for the last time, they haven't…" she mumbled, as she sat slouched in a chair, peering at her fiancé and Dr. Sayoran work.

"Well that's extremely odd, they really should have-"

"-I have a package here for a Special Agent Seeley Booth", a voice suddenly called from below the platform.

Angela jumped up from the chair as if she were scalded and scampered down the steps to greet the delivery guy.

"I'll sign for that!" she exclaimed eagerly.

The man smirked at her and handed her the clip board.

Angela scrawled her signature hurriedly and ran back up the steps of the platform after swiping her card through.

The gang then hovered around the package as Angela laid it on an empty table.

"Should we call him?" she asked, looking around her worriedly.

The rest of the team had grim faces but Cam minutely nodded her head.

Out of nowhere, a cell phone was trust into Angela's face.

"Why me?" she asked, her voice sounding slightly whiney.

No answer came so she just sighed and took the phone, instantly dialling Booth's number.

It rang.

And rang.

And rang.

Just when she was about to hang up, the phone was answered.

"Booth", came a soft tone.

"Booth, its Angela, look I'm sorry to keep calling you like this but-"

"-It's all right Angela, what's up?" Booth asked, sounding as if he was extremely tired and on edge.

"Booth are you okay?"

She heard the agent sigh once more, she could tell something was on his mind.

"Yeah, I'm fine…was there something you wanted to tell me?" he murmured, and Angela couldn't help but notice that he sounded a little timid, almost scared…

"Uh…yeah…um, another package came for you just now…"

The agent gasped and started rambling hurriedly, "give me five minutes, I'm just waiting on someone, I'll be there as soon as I can".

"But Booth-"

Angela was cut off by the sound of the dial tone. He hung up on her!

Turning to the rest of the group, (who were all gawking at her, with eager faces), she mumbled, "um…he's on his way…"

The team looked grimly at the package for a moment, each fearing the worst, they always seemed to receive bad mail in this place.

After a while of mindlessly looking at particulates, something occurred to Hodgins. He turned to frown at his fiancé.

"How long did he say he'll be? It's a least four hours drive to Washington."

Angela looked thoughtful for a moment and mumbled, "actually he said he'll be five minutes…"

"Two minutes? Booth's in Pittsburgh, there's no way he'll get here in two minutes…" Hodgins said matter-of-factly.

No sooner had the words left his mouth, he heard a familiar tone yell up at them.

"Alright Squint-Squad, what do we have?"

They all turned and saw the burly FBI agent walk towards them, accompanied by two older people, a man and a woman.

"Booth, how the hell did you get here so fast?" Angela exclaimed in shock, "I didn't actually think you meant five minutes!"

Booth looked nervous for a moment before answering sheepishly, "uh actually, I've been here for a while now…got back earlier today…"

The squints frowned at him, before Sweets began, "hey Booth, where's Dr. Bren-"

"-Hey squints, let me introduce you to my parents…" Booth cut across him, suddenly stepping aside to the people who were now climbing up the platform steps.

"Mom, Dad, this is the team my partner and I work with. That's Angela, Hodgins, Cam and uh, that's…Sweets..." Booth mumbled, hesitating as he saw how eager his therapist looked at the mention of patents. His young face was practically shinning with anticipation of observing his patient's relationship with his parents.

There was a chorus of 'nice to meet you', 'hey' and 'hello' throughout the group.

When everyone was settled, the question that Booth was dreading was asked once more.

"So…Seeley…where is this amazing partner we hear so much about?" asked his mother, a small, plump, joyful-looking woman with rosy cheeks.

The team, Sweets and his parents all looked at him expectedly.

Suddenly the room grew very hot and Booth loosened his tie considerably.

"Uh…well…that's what I wanted to talk to you guys about. I thought it would be better to do it in person I-uh-"

Angela immediately knew that tone of voice and began to panic.

"Booth, where is she?" she asked, her voice laced with worry.

Booth's chocolate brown eyes gleamed with something only his mother and Angela could identify.

Fear.

Seeley drew a deep breath and readied himself for what was to come.

"She's been taken."

The room lapsed into an uncomfortable silence…

* * *

It was cold, bitterly cold. The harsh gust of wind, hit like a tonne of un-welcome bricks against the soft, creamy skin.

Temperance Brennan shivered against her will as she felt goose bumps begin to form on her upper arms.

She had begun to come around and the first thing she felt was how cold she was. The second, was the unbearable pain she could feel all over her face.

Her cheek was severely swollen, she had a deep gash under her eye and she could tell she was going to have defined bruising.

She could not see anything, a blindfold covered her eyes as she sat, her arms and legs tied to a wooden chair.

Her over-sensitive ears could pick up a fraction of movement coming from her left.

She tired desperately to talk but there was a gag in her mouth, so her attempts just came out in muffles.

Suddenly she could sense someone standing over her. Even with the blindfold on, her brilliant eyes could tell that the light had dimmed.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" came a voice, standing directly above her.

Brennan began to struggle against her restraints, to kick, hit, slap, anything to wound the person, her attempts were in vain.

"Now, Temperance, there's no need to be so violent, we're all friends here…" the voice continued, in an utterly patronising tone.

The anthropologist wanted to scream, yell and curse at him but yet again her attempts were futile.

There was a swooping motion and she could feel someone kneeling on front of her, very, very close.

"Now Temperance…I'm going to take off your blindfold now…just for a little bit. I hate talking when the person can't see me, I find it terribly, terribly rude…" the voice mumbled and she could feel hands creep behind her head and untie the blindfold slowly.

The black straps fell away from her face and Temperance's eyes crept open.

She was almost blinded by the harsh light that was omitting from the large room, squinting violently, she ducked her head down to shield herself.

"Sorry for the bad lighting Dr. Brennan, but it is necessary for our filming purposes…" the man, whom she saw as being a tad blurry due to her damaged vision, said softly.

_Filming purposes? _Brennan thought to herself, _what the hell does he mean by that?_

Just as she was about to voice her thoughts, she was answered as she witnessed the large video camera that stood several feet from her.

Her mouth dropped open at the sight of it.

Was this guy really that sick? It certainly seemed so…

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice sounding a lot braver than she felt.

She tried desperately to peer into his face, but the harsh light would not allow it. That and the fact that the man was wearing a baseball cap over his eyes made it too hard to identify him anyway.

That, it seemed, caused the man great amusement.

"Ha! Oh where are the manners my sickeningly controlling mother taught me? My name is Mike, and I have to say Doctor, I am very pleasured to finally meet you…"

Brennan refrained herself from shivering at the tone of his voice.

He sounded, for lack of a better term (due to her only coming around from unconsciousness)…creepy…

As his words sank in, something occurred to her.

His name was _Mike_. Same as their 'so-called' victim.

"What's your last name?" she asked quietly, hoping that she wasn't pushing her luck with this guy.

This seemed to amuse the man further.

"You want to know my last name? Ha, of course you do. You're a smart woman Temperance, you've probably figured by now that things aren't quite like what they seem…I had a feeling you'd be that type. The name's Johnston, Mike Johnston…"

Temperance's heart panged to the icy depths of her stomach.

This was not good…

* * *

Seeley Booth held the large, brown envelop in his hands, peering down at it with such intensity it was as if a cryptic code was etched onto it that the agent was desperately trying to interpret.

If he were to look up he would plainly see six people eagerly staring at him, in silent, agonizing, anticipation.

Taking a deep breath, he tore the paper open suddenly and gawked at what now lay in his hands.

It was a video tape, with the words "PLAY ME" written in bold, capital letters on its sticker.

Angela immediately jumped into action, running down the steps and somehow arriving back with a portable television and hoisting it (with the help of Hodgins) up the steps to sit directly in the middle of the platform.

The others watched with bated breath as Booth silently inserted the tape into the VCR, turned the TV on and pressed play.

The screen came up in black and immediately words filled the screen.

**GOOD DAY AGENT BOOTH. WELL DONE FOR GETTING THIS FAR, YOU ARE SMART TO FOLLOW BY MY RULES. I TAKE IT BY NOW YOU MUST BE DESPERATELY MISSING THAT SEXY SCIENTIST YOU FLOUNCE AROUND WITH ON A DAILY BASIS. I'VE DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING THAT MIGHT EASE THE PAIN HOWEVER… **

Suddenly the words dissolved and an unfocused picture came into view.

Booth felt everyone lean forward in order to see it properly.

It was a darkened room, basked in a strange, green glow. The room itself, reminded Booth of a warehouse chamber, or a particularly large cell. But it wasn't the room that caught his attention. It was the fact that the room was entirely empty, apart from one thing. A lone, black figure sat hunched in a tight corner, looking terribly small. The agent squinted his eyes desperately, trying to make the figure out in the impending darkness. The figure was bound to a chair, that much was obvious. It's shoulders were slumped and the head lolled-suggesting that they were unconscious. Due to the positioning of the head it was impossible to clearly see the face, that and the fact that dark hair was spilled about.

Words began to fill the screen again.

**RECOGNISE MY PRISONER YET AGENT BOOTH? HERE LET ME GIVE YOU A CLOSE-UP…**

The words dissolved and the camera began an instant close-up on the figure, focusing mainly on the face.

Booth gasped.

Angela clamped her hands over her mouth, fresh tears falling onto her reddened cheeks.

Hodgins shook his head, feeling a mixture of anger and sadness.

Cam bit her lip, looking utterly shocked.

Sweets hung his head low and shut his eyes tightly.

Booth's parents exchanged worried glances.

Suddenly, more words began to form over the face of the anthropologist.

**SAY HELLO TO TEMPERANCE, SEELEY. DON'T WORRY, SHE'S JUST KNOCKED OUT. SHE GOT A LITTLE FIESTY WITH ONE OF MY MEN AND THEY HAD TO SHUT HER UP SOMEHOW, A PISTOL TO THE FACE DID THE TRICK. **

**BUT, HERE'S THE REAL KICKER AGENT BOOTH…**

**YOU AND ONLY YOU CAN GET HER OUT OF THIS SITUATION.**

**YOU SEE I'M NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR BROTHER OR THE SEXY DOC EITHER (ALTHOUGH I WOULD LIKE A PIECE OF HER) I'M INTERESTED IN YOU.**

**SO HERE'S THE DEAL.**

**YOU COME TO WHERE THEY ARE, AND I'LL SET THEM FREE, ON ONE CONDITION.**

**YOU STAY.**

**YOU HANG BACK AND FIGHT ME, FACE TO FACE.**

**IT'S TIME FOR MY REVENGE SEELEY, AND REVENGE IS VERY SWEET.**

**STILL DON'T KNOW WHO I AM YET?**

**NO MATTER, YOU WILL SOON.**

**TAKE ONE LAST LOOK AT YOUR PARTNER BOOTH, BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T GET HERE NEITHER SHE NOR YOUR BROTHER WILL BE ALIVE.**

**AND IT'LL BE ALL YOUR FAULT.**

**YOU HAVE 2 HOURS TO FIND ME.**

**YOUR NEXT CLUE IS WRITTEN ON YOUR DEAR PARTNER'S CHEEK.**

**UNTIL NEXT WE COMMUNICATE.**

The writing dissolved and was replaced by a close up of Temperance.

Booth leaned forward and studied her beautiful face.

He frowned when he saw a small symbol he didn't recognise etched onto her cheek with black felt-tip marker.

"What the-"

"It's the mathematical symbol for pie", Hodgins suddenly exclaimed and everyone turned to look at him.

Looking around himself, he cleared his throat nervously, "you know, 3.14, pie."

Booth continued to frown but something was slowly beginning to click into place.

"I don't think he means pie as in the math thing, I think he means the food…" he mumbled.

Everyone gawked at him, and he felt he owed them an explanation.

Suddenly the words began flowing out of him like a water-fall…"Look, I think the reason he snatched Jared was not only to hurt me but to gain information on me too…same goes for why he took Bones. This guy obviously knows me from the past, but now he's focusing on the present. He wrote the pie symbol on Bones. I think he's referring to when I eat pie with Bones at the diner, meaning my next clue is at the diner!"

Everyone seemed amazed at how Booth had come to this conclusion but no one could find words to speak.

Booth took this as an opportunity and immediately sprung into action.

"Booth where are you-"

"-I gotta go…I only have two hours to find Jared and Bones!" he cut across Sweets, running down the steps of the platform and speeding towards the exit of the Jeffersonian.

Hodgins made to follow him, but Booth's father suddenly reached out to hold him back.

"Let him go son, this is his to deal with…" he said wisely.

Hodgins nodded as Cam spoke softly, "I still think we should call for back-up, I'm going to get in touch with Deputy Director Cullen".

Everyone nodded solemnly and tried not to focus on the looming, ticking clock hanging over their heads.

1 hour 52 minutes to go.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, I hated that chapter. I'm actually considering re-writing it so please bare with me.**

**Coming up, the mystery behind the body of Mike's brother Nick. Just what Mike's problem is with Booth, and of course the amazing rescue. But does that mean the story is then over? Ha! Not by a long shot… Stay tuned! xx**


	17. Riddles And Realisations

**Brotherly Love **

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 17: Riddles And Realisations**

**A/N: WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SCENES OF A SEXUAL NATURE, SUGGESTIVE SEXUAL ABUSE AND ANGST. **

**Just a head's up, this is the longest chapter yet! (8,332 words) Xx**

_There are a lot of things in the world that we as human beings take for granted. The soft flickers of the early-morning sun basking our lives with light and ridding us of the darkened night like a haloed angel watching over us. The sounds of the sea as it crashes against the cliffs on a rocky sea shore. The laugh, omitting from a small version of yourself that brings pleasure and pride to your ears as you witness the utter tranquilly that is the life your innocent child. _

_All these things can be easily forgotten in your day to day routines. But one thing that can never be erased is the feeling you experienced when all these small, but mighty moments graced your presence._

_The feel of your freshly washed clothes against your moist skin as you finishing showering. The fantasy which you always relished in when you were entirely alone…the one where the knowing smile your other half throws you makes your heart swell the morning after your intensive love-making. The feel of your lips against her's, the soft butterfly kisses you trail along her neck, the high-pitched giggle that rises from her throat as you nibble in just the right place._

_But are these moments which are taken for granted what really makes up your life?_

_Does the sun, sea, laugh of your small child, soft garments and a fantasy where you are so much more then 'just partners' with the woman you love really what makes your life special?_

_Or is it the dramatic events in your life that makes it significant?_

_The amount of times you witnessed another human being die right in front of your eyes? The amount of bodies you saw pile up day after day on an utterly sterile, steel examination table? The number of times you risked your own life so full with these 'taken for granted moments' for a greater good? Or was it all of the faces you saw change, when they realised that you pulled your trigger and ended their life for good?_

_Well, is it?_

_All day, every day, moments are made, witnessed, experienced, and some forgotten._

_Feelings accompany mostly, but feelings are a lot harder to ignore._

_Anger, hurt, pain, joy, happiness, content, calm, panic, fear, angst, worry, pride, love…all these feelings, some good, some bad, existed in the universe, and still do…not matter how much we as humans, sometimes try and forget._

_Do you forget?_

_No…you don't, you can't, you won't…_

_You see, no matter how hard a memory can be to remember, enjoy, or experience, the feeling that comes with it is always the hardest part._

_For sometimes, you can forget minute details, events, conversations or simply what you were doing at the time…but never, never do you forget how you felt. Never, do you simply pass over the little burst of pride that makes you grin widely as your son shows you his painting, the soft panging of your heart as betrayal sets in, the little sense of satisfaction that proceeds to make you want to do the conga in a ridiculous and utterly embarrassing fashion, the love that swells your heart to the brim as you witness your partner red raw and baring her soul to you and only you…never, ever do you forget that…_

_And yet, why is it now, that you seem to forget how one smile form her makes you lose your breath?_

_Why is it now that you forget how her laugh makes you laugh, your chest filling with a sense of utter calm and tranquilly?_

_Why is it now, now that you know that she is once again in harm's way that you start to break down and suddenly forget why you do what you do?_

_Are you scared Seeley?_

_Are you absolutely terrified, that you won't get to her in time so you're preparing yourself now for the worst?_

_Preparing yourself for her demise? Her banishment from your life? _

_Are you banishing her from your life now Seeley by forgetting all the things that make you be so very much in love with her?_

_Are you?_

_Aren't those significant memories? Are they what you never want to take for granted?_

_Are they?_

_Are they what you always want to remember with a happy heart, years from now as you grow grey and old?_

_Are they what you always want to tell her you love about her and are what makes her special in your eyes?_

_Is she worth everything you ever knew, know and have?_

_Is she?_

_If so…then get out of the damn car!_

Suddenly, Special Agent Seeley Booth took his head off the steeling wheel of his car and wretched open the door, and stormed across the street towards the Royal Diner where he was parked opposite.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled open the glass door and watched confidently through, not entirely sure what it was exactly he was looking for.

His chocolate-brown eyes scanned the diner intensely for a moment and rested upon a blonde waitress who looked vaguely familiar.

_Where have I seen her before? _he pondered, before he began to draw attention to himself.

"Are ya eatin' in or out today hun?" asked a plump, dark-haired, friendly woman Booth knew as Wendy.

"Um…I'll…uh…I'll have-"

"-A slice of pie? Cook just made some fresh this mornin", Wendy smiled, knowing fully well by now that the scrumptious agent on front her was very partial to apple pie.

Booth could only nod politely as he sat down at the counter, feeling utterly helpless as he would have to sit here and figure out something to do with pie, whilst his brother and partner could be wounded or worse.

The waitress leaned forward and began to withdraw a piece of pie out from under a glass dish when something caught Booth's eye.

On the bottom of one of the plates of pie, the corner of what looked like a white envelop could be seen sticking out.

"Hey wait-um…could I have that piece instead?" the agent asked pointing at the pie with the card nervously, knowing it must have looked strange, him asking for a specific piece of pie.

"Well, they're all the same darlin' but sure…" Wendy grinned, replaced the pie she took out and withdrew the one with the envelop.

"Would you like some coffee with that?" she asked, her cheap perfume looming towards his nostrils as she leaned over the counter towards him.

"Uh…n-no thanks," he mumbled, ignoring her presence now, willing her to go away.

Sighing, the older woman rolled her eyes and stalked off, tending to some other customer.

Once she was out of ear-shot, Booth tentively slipped his hand under the plate and slid out the envelop.

With a great ferociousness, he ripped the card open and began reading, his eyes frantically running past line after line rapidly.

**GOOD DAY AGENT BOOTH.**

**I HAVE TO SAY I AM SURPRISED THAT YOU'VE GOTTEN AS FAR AS YOU HAVE. I ALWAYS THOUGHT COPS WERE STUPID…YOU IT SEEMS, ARE THE ONLY EXCEPTION. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT YOU'D KNOW THE MATHEMATICAL TERM FOR 3.14? I AM IMPRESSED, ALTHOUGH IT WAS MORE THEN LIKELY JACK HODGINS WHO GAVE YOU THAT INFORMATION.**

**NOW ONTO BUSINESS…**

**YOU ALWAYS WANT WHAT YOU CAN'T HAVE**

**IT'S REALLY PATHETIC, ALMOST SAD,**

**AND HERE YOU FIND YOURSELF AGAIN**

**CRAVING SOMETHING THE SAME AS MANY MEN**

**THE THING WHICH YOU WANT THE MOST**

**COMES AT A COST AND SITS BY A COAST.**

**YOU NEVER DID LIKE RIDDLES DID YOU SEELEY? WELL…LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN FIGURE OUT WHAT MY ONE MEANS!**

**AGAIN I'LL REMIND YOU THE CLOCK IS TICKING. **

**I'M THINKING OF UNTYING DEAR TEMPERANCE FOR A WHILE, MAYBE GET TO KNOW HER BETTER…SHE REALLY IS SUCH A FASCINATING AND BEAUTIFUL WOMAN.**

**BUT THEN AGAIN, YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT, DON'T YOU AGENT BOOTH?**

**TICK TOCK GOES THE CLOCK…**

**UNTIL WE NEXT COMMUNICATE.**

Booth shut his eyes tightly as he read the end of the note.

_That bastard better not lay a finger on her, or I'll rip him to shreds! _he thought furiously, gripping the edge of the counter tightly.

Before he could blissfully think of ways to murder the son-of-a-bitch that was doing this, his cell phone began ringing.

"Booth", he grumbled, slamming a few dollar bills down on the counter and storming from the diner without a backwards glance.

"Booth…it's Angela…how-how are you doing?" the artist asked nervously.

Booth wretched his SUV door open and climbed in, starting the engine.

"Well, I got the next clue, but I'm stumped…" he replied, trying desperately to refrain himself from slamming his fists into the steering wheel.

"Well what is it sweetie, maybe I can help?"

A light bulb went off inside Booth's head.

Angela! She was good at these types of things!

"Yeah sure, it's a riddle, wait, I'll read it," he mumbled, flicking open the card and beginning to read.

When he was finished there was a slight silence on the other end of the phone.

"Angela-"

"-Well what is it exactly that you want that many other men want also?"

_A beautiful woman…Bones… _Booth thought involuntarily.

Then it hit him like a tonne of bricks!

_The 'thing' that this mystery guy was referring to was Bones! _

_That made perfect sense! He always did want what he couldn't have, and something he definitely can't have is his partner!_

_But what did that mean? His partner…his partner what?_

"Uh…um…well I think I got it Angela, thanks for your help", he mumbled as he suddenly took a left, towards Brennan's apartment.

"Oh wait Booth don't go! I-I've something to tell you…" Angela trailed off, sounding more jittery then the agent ever heard her.

"Well what is it Angela?" he asked softly, trying not to sound impatient as he knew she was going through a hard time too.

"Um…well…Bren's Dad called…"

Seeley slammed on the brakes of the car and screeched to a halt outside the familiar apartment block.

His eyes widened in shock.

He completely forgot about Max…

_Oh God! Why do you hate me?_

"Uh…uh…what did he say?" he asked quietly, half afraid of what he was about to hear.

He heard Angela sigh dramatically, "well, what would you say if you found out Parker had been kidnapped and no one remembered to tell you?"

When Booth cringed and didn't reply, Angela continued, "he said, he'd be at the Jeffersonian as soon as he could and that he was going to kill that rat-bastard Agent Booth for keeping this from him…"

Booth sucked in a gust of air as he heard that.

He knew Max Keenan well enough to know that when it came to threats, he didn't fall short…

"Okay, okay, look Angela please just…just try and keep him at the Jeffersonian and as calm as possible. Tell him that I'll be in touch as soon as I can and for God's sake tell him not to do anything dramatic, let me handle it…"

Booth was making his way up the flights of stairs now, towards his partner's apartment.

Angela sounded like she was going to retort but he cut her off.

"Hey, you don't know where Bones' spare key for her apartment is do you?"

Angela frowned in confusion.

"What the hell are you doing at Bren's apartment Booth? She's not going to be there!"

"I know, just, where is her key?"

"She doesn't have a spare key…"

"But what if she forgets-"

"-She never forgets her keys…look sweetie, I don't know what you're doing over there but if you want to get in, I suggest you use that manly strength of yours to break down the door."

Booth rolled her eyes at her suggestion.

"Okay, I'll do that…thanks Angela, I'll be in touch…"

"Good. Oh and Booth?"

"Yeah?" he asked, standing back and preparing himself for the impact of his shoulder slamming into the tough wood.

"Find Bren…" the artist mumbled, the tears in her voice evident.

"I will…" he mumbled, closing his phone, and racing towards the large, wooden door, slamming into it with great force.

The door burst open immediately and Booth raced through the door, only stopped to catch his breath when he was standing in the middle of his partner's living room.

"Now what?" he asked himself aloud, completely stumped.

_Why did he let Angela go?_

_Okay Booth think, what does the card say? _his mind asked him.

He plunged his hand into his pocket and snatched the card, re-reading it quickly.

"The thing which you want the most, comes at a cost and sit by a coast…" he mumbled to himself, looking around himself frantically, his eye catching the clock with lay on the mantel piece.

1 hour 19 minutes to go.

God he was running out of time, fast!

_Think Seeley think!_ his mind screamed at him as he began racing around the apart, looking for something, anything, that would help him in this crazy quest.

And then he saw it.

A coast!

It was a painting that was in Bones' hallway of a sea-side town.

His heart leapt at the sight of it, he stumbled forward and with shaking hands he took the painting carefully off the wall.

His eyes scanned it for an envelop but he found none.

Turning it around he glanced at the back and found some writing.

_To Bren, I hope this helps brighten up your new apartment. Happy Birthday sweetie, lots of love, Angela. xx_

His mind began to panic, there was nothing there!

Just when he was about to give up, his eyes caught something.

At the corner of the painting, there was a tiny rip.

Sighing, he knew that the card was behind there.

This would be the 'comes at a cost' part, he would have to destroy a wonderful picture painted by Angela for Bones' for her birthday.

He took at deep breath, shook his head and began ripping the back of the painting until a little white envelop could be seen.

It was scrunched up in a little ball, so it could fit into the tiny opening that the mysterious guy made.

He tore it gently off and put the picture back on Bones' wall.

Sighing he opened the envelop.

**GOOD DAY AGENT BOOTH.**

**WELL, WELL WE ARE QUITE THE INTUTITIVE ONE AREN'T WE? I REALLY DIDN'T EXPECT YOU TO GET THE COMPLEXITY THAT IS GREAT RIDDLING.**

**BUT ARE YOU GOOD ENOUGH TO GUESS THE NEXT?**

**YOU ARE QUITE THE FAMILY MAN**

**YOU FATHER YOUR CHILD AS BEST YOU CAN**

**YOU ALWAYS HAD AN ADVENTUROUS SENSE**

**ALWAYS WAITING FOR THE DAY TO COMMENCE**

**LIFE'S A GAME YOU KNOW THAT BOOTH**

**FOLLOW YOUR PASSION TO KNOW THE TRUTH**

**YOU HELP HIM LEARN AND COACH HIM WELL**

**GO AND FIND A SECRET TO TELL…**

**TICK TOCK AGENT BOOTH.**

**BETTER HURRY.**

**UNTIL WE NEXT COMMUNICATE.**

Hurriedly, Booth shoved the card into his pocket, ran to the door, which was swinging slightly off its hinges and gently began pulling it with him, so that when he stood outside it gave the illusion that it was fully closed.

He would have to remind Bones to get a new door.

_If she made it out alive that was…_

The agent shook his head to banish those thoughts from him, this was not the time.

He was making his speedy way back to his SVU when his cell phone began ringing again.

Rolling his eyes and gritting his teeth, he jumped into the car, started the engine and flipped open his phone.

"Booth" he muttered, the riddle echoing in his ears.

"SEELEY BOOTH YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH! WHERE THE HELL IS MY DAUGHTER?!"

Booth jumped violently and held the phone a foot away from his ear.

The booming, angered tone of Max Keenan continued.

"DID YOU NOT EVEN THINK TO CALL ME BOOTH? I AM HER FATHER YOU KNOW! HOW DARE YOU KEEP THIS FROM ME! MY LITTLE GIRL COULD BE HURT OR…WORSE AND YOU DON'T EVEN THINK TO LET ME KNOW!"

"Max, Max listen I'm sorry alright things have just been kinda hectic right now…I-I'm out on some stupid quest for a freak kidnapper who wants revenge on me! He has my brother too Max… I'll find Bones okay? I promise", Booth mumbled apologetically, ache in his heart as he thought about his partner.

His partner's furious father huffed down the phone.

It seemed after all the yelling he was beginning to calm down.

"Just find her Booth-I can't lose her again…please, find my little girl".

The sound of Max's voice made Booth hang his head low and shut his eyes.

He sounded so desperate, hurt, dejected, terrified…

All the things that he himself felt as he thought about his brother and the woman he knew he was in love with.

"I…I'll find her…" he croaked, before pressing the end call button and resting his head on the wheel again.

_Life's a game…you coach him well… _Those words suddenly formed in Booth's brain as something began to click.

_This guy was obviously was talking about Parker, he went on about being a father after all…then he mentioned a game and coaching his son well…that couldn't mean…could it?_

Suddenly, Seeley slammed his foot down on the accelerator and took off, he knew exactly where he was going…

* * *

Temperance Brennan's head lolled to the side as she fought to stay awake.

Exhaustion was beginning to set in now but she wouldn't let her mind or body succumb to sleep, she was too uncertain, too exposed, too unsafe…

All of a sudden she could hear heavy foot steps pounding towards her, her heart-rate instantly quickened.

When the owner of the footsteps entered the room, they slowed down considerably, tip-toeing agonisingly slowly towards Brennan, their steps echoing menacingly against the walls of the chamber-like room.

"Well hello again Temperance," came the cool, utterly calm tone of Mike Johnston.

Brennan head snapped towards the voice instantaneously.

A harsh chuckle omitted throughout the room at her words. It sounded bitter, angered, yet so very amused.

"Oh doctor Brennan…don't be alarmed, I'm not going to hurt you-"

Mike continued to laugh softly, grabbing a chair and placing it on front of Brennan before removing her blindfold and gag and sitting down.

"-I'm not alarmed!" she spat defensively, glaring at him, utterly disgusted that he thought she was afraid of him.

Smirking he stared into her sea-blue eyes deeply, "you know Temperance, you and I are not that different…" he trailed off, looking pensive.

Brennan's face grew even more disgusted.

"I am nothing like you!" she exclaimed erratically, fidgeting against her restraints.

"Oh I'd say that we are Temperance, you see, I was a lot like you once. I was…highly intelligent and I knew it, I used it to the best of my advantage but unfortunately until my later years it was utterly useless and wasted on the considerably of-lower-intelligent adolescents that I was surrounded by… Did you ever feel like that doctor? That you were surrounded by a bunch of idiots?" he asked, sounding bitter, yet eager for her response.

Brennan's brain began to work extremely fast as she processed what he just said.

She started to formulate a theory about him. A theory so odd, yet, she was beginning to convince herself that it may indeed be correct…

Annoyed that she still didn't answer her question, Mike leaned forward towards her, so close that their noses lay a mere inch apart.

He began speaking, in an eerie, hissing whisper, "my whole life I was surrounded by a bunch of blabbering imbeciles, who thought they were better then me and could push me around. Not anymore, I'm getting my revenge on them, one by one, starting with your dear friend Seeley…"

Brennan's eyes widened as yet another thing clicked into place.

Taking a deep breath she gasped something quietly that Mike failed to hear.

"What?" he asked in his arrogant tone.

Brennan rolled her eyes and repeated yourself.

"Your name isn't Mike Johnston, is it?"

A slow smile crept across Mike's face as he minutely shook his head.

"No…"

* * *

A large, black SUV pulled up outside the gate, and a tall, muscular man stepped out of the vehicle and began racing towards the entrance.

Booth huffed powerfully as he jogged towards the gate and swung it wide open, stepping onto the field.

This is where he coaches Parker's little league team, and hopefully, if he was right, this was where he find his next clue.

"Where could it be, where could it be…" he mumbled to himself over and over as he stood in the glorious sunlight in the middle of the field, turning around and peering about.

Suddenly, he spotted something in the near-distance, a white sheet taped to the locker-room doors.

He took off at break-neck speed towards the changing rooms and nearly slammed roughly into them as he reached them.

He slowed to catch his breath and raised his head to look at the paper, a deep frown beginning to form on his face.

It wasn't a notice like he originally thought.

No, it was so much more.

Taped to the wall was a printed out photograph on a white sheet of paper.

But that was not the shocking thing, it was whom was in the picture.

Four teenage boys, all tall and well built, stood laughing and smiling at the camera, looking as if they hadn't a care in the world.

The first, was a young man named Eric Billson who had dashingly good looks and broad shoulders, captain of the high school football team back in 1989, the second was a slighter shorter, blonde young man called Joseph Pinson, the son of the local sheriff and star quarter-back, the third was David Malcolm an African-American young man with a cheeky smile, who was the captain of the basketball team. But it wasn't these young gentlemen that caught the agent's attention. It was the forth teenager.

The forth teenager was a tall young man, slightly muscular with dark brown hair and chocolate eyes. He was the star point-guard of the basketball team and had such a smile that would make any girl's heart melt. His name was Seeley Booth.

Booth looked at the picture of himself and his old high school friends and shook his head.

Under it there was a caption printed in the familiar capital, bold writing.

**OUR FOUR TEENAGE HEROES BACK IN THE DAY WHEN SPORTS WAS EVERYTHING IN HIGH-SCHOOL. ARE'T THEY SOMETHING?**

He bit his lip when he finished reading.

It had been such a long time since he'd seen any of them, he had no idea how they were now, where they were now, or if they even were still alive…it was sad really…

Reaching forward, he pulled the page off the wall to look at it closely.

There was no hidden message in the caption as far as he could tell so he flipped it over, and there is where he found the envelop.

Bracing himself, he tore it off and opened it, his eyes beginning to read intently.

**GOOD DAY AGENT BOOTH. SUCH A BLAST FROM THE PAST ISN'T IT? BACK IN YOUR GLORY DAYS? **

**YOU WERE QUITE THE PLAYER WEREN'T YOU? BOTH ON AND OFF THE FIELD. SUCH A LADIES MAN, GIRLS WANTED YOU AND GUYS WANTED TO BE YOU…SO TYPICAL!**

**WHAT IS IT WITH SOCIETY AND SPORTS ANYWAY? EVEN NOW I CAN NEVER UNDERSTAND WHY THE JOCKS WHO ARE AS DUMB AS A BOX OF BRICKS GET ALL THE GLORY AND SCHOLARSHIPS WHILST THE FUTURE DOCTORS AND SCIENTISTS GET PUSHED INTO THE SHADOWS AND HAVE TO WORK THREE JOBS TO GET THROUGH COLLEGE! IT'S AN OUTRAGE!**

**IS THAT HOW YOU DID IT AGENT BOOTH?**

**NO…I REMEMBER, YOU DID OUT YOUR KNEE AT A MATCH DIDN'T YOU? PITY…YOU COULD HAVE GONE ALL THE WAY, YOU WERE QUITE THE BASKETBALL PLAYER, AND GOOD AT HOCKET TOO IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY…**

**YOU COULD HAVE ENDED UP JUST LIKE THE OTHERS.**

**DO YOU KNOW WHERE THEY ARE NOW?**

**I BET YOU DON'T…**

**PEOPLE JUST LOSE TOUCH AFTER HIGH SCHOOL…IT MUST BE HARD BEING THAT POPULAR, YOU PROBABLY DON'T EVEN REMEMBER A LOT OF PEOPLE DO YOU?**

**LIKE ME…YOU DON'T REMEMBER ME…**

**BUT I REMEMBER YOU SEELEY, I REMEMBER YOU WELL.**

**SO COME ON, COME AND GET ME AND SEE IF YOU KNOW ME THEN.**

**PROVE TO ME THAT YOU'RE NOT AS DUMB AS A BOX OF BRICKS.**

**SOLVE MY LAST RIDDLE AND HELP SAVE YOUR BROTHER AND THE WOMAN I KNOW YOU LOVE…**

**TIME'S RUNNING OUT-FASTER THEN A CAR,**

**YOU ARE NEAR BOOTH AND YET SO FAR,**

**JUST TURN THE PASSAGES AND YOU WILL SEE,**

**SOMETHING THAT'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT TO ME**

**PUT US TOGETHER, BEARING IN MIND**

**WHAT IT WILL HELP YOU FIND**

**NOT JUST YOUR BROTHER, PARTNER OR ME**

**BUT THE TRUTH WHICH WILL SET YOU ALL FREE.**

**BETTER HURRY AGENT BOOTH, I'M CALCULATING THAT YOU DON'T HAVE A LOT OF TIME LEFT…**

**UNTIL WE NEXT COMMUNICATE**

Booth closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Who the hell was this guy? He obviously knew him from the past, from way back in High School…

As the agent stood there, trying to make sense of the riddle he just read, he also urged himself to remember who on earth in High School would want revenge on him…

He searched and searched his mind but came up blank, he knew he couldn't be expected to think back that long in such a serious situation.

Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he fumbled to look at his watch.

49 minutes left.

_Oh god! I have no idea what this riddle means! _Booth chastised himself in his head as he ran back to his car.

Wrenching open the door, he climbed in and rested the card on front of him on the steering wheel.

Silently he read it again.

"Turn the passages…" he mumbled to himself. "Turn the passages…"

He frowned deeply. _Didn't passages mean like writing, letters, notes?_

_Turn the notes? _he thought.

Biting his lower lip, he flipped the card over and stared at it intently.

On the back the was a load of little lines and bits of letters that made absolutely no sense to him.

"What the hell?" he said to himself angrily, banging his hand on the dashboard loudly.

It looked like some cryptic code, with dashes and lines and some full letters and half letters.

**1 ) l - - - - 7 -( **

He stared at it intently, hoping that the harder he stared, the easier he would find the solution, needless to say, it didn't help him accomplish anything.

He glanced at his car clock. He was running out of time, fast, just as the riddle stated.

Growing more frustrated, Booth flipped the card back over and re-read the riddle.

"Put us together, bearing in mind, what it will help you find…" he mumbled.

"Put us together? The passages?" he asked himself.

Suddenly it hit him, he had to put all the cards together!

Scrambling and shuffling in the front seat, he plunged his hand into his pocket and withdrew the other three cards that he'd received.

He turned them over and saw the same little lines and letters on the back of them.

Fumbling awkwardly, he tried to assemble the cards together, first side by side.

It still made no sense.

Gritting his teeth he then arranged the three cards on top of each other, so that each card over lapped with the other.

A broad smile crept onto the agent's face as words began to form.

**109 WAREHOUSE 7 CHERRIE BARD STREET.**

Quickly, Booth withdrew his cell and text Deputy Director Cullen the address, he would alert the back-up, just the way they had planned.

Feeling more confident, Booth threw everything aside and started the car, revving the engine loudly before taking off at the speed of light.

He had to get all the way across town, it was starting to rain and the traffic was growing heavy.

His heart pumped wildly in his chest as he turned on his siren and drove ever faster, weaving in and out of vehicles.

He just had to get there in time or…well…he couldn't think about it…

31 minutes to go.

* * *

"Where's Jared?" Brennan demanded, as 'Mike' stood up and made his way towards the door that his guard just walked through.

The two men conversed quietly, both ignoring the anthropologist.

"I SAID, WHERE'S BOOTH'S BROTHER?" Brennan yelled, trashing about, still trying to break free from her restraints but they just wrapped tighter around her as she continued to pull.

Her loud demand caught the attention of her kidnapper.

"That, Dr. Brennan, is none of your concern", he smirked, his arrogant, sleek tone making the hairs stand up on the back of her neck.

He now stood on front of her, menacingly glaring at her, as he basked her in shadow.

"Now Temperance, is time for a little fun. My associate here is going to untie you now. Don't think about using any of those fancy moves on he or I either, because that would be extremely…unintelligent, which doesn't suit you," he sneered, whilst withdrawing the large gun from behind his back and pointing it directly between her eyes, as his minion began untying her.

"Now stand up," he ordered, as the last of the ropes fell away from Brennan.

Temperance felt the guard snatch her arms and hold her in place as she stood.

Roughly he began pushing her out of the room as Mike watched backwards with them so he was still facing Brennan and the gun was still directly on her forehead.

The three all trudged out into the open area of what Brennan could tell was the main part of the warehouse.

But it wasn't the room that the doctor felt her eyes become drawn to, it was what resided in the room.

A bed.

Her eyes bulged at the sight of it, this was worse then she thought.

She squirmed, trying desperately to escape the clutches of her capturer but he just gripped her tighter and Mike dug the gun into her skull.

"Ah-ah Tempe, that's not very nice! I've arranged this comfortable bed for you and you aren't being very appreciative at all. I thought after a whole day of sitting on a hard, wooden chair, a bed would be a god-send…" he smirked, he voice utterly condescending and patronising.

Brennan glared at him, her cold, blue eyes boring a hole in him.

Mike leaned closer to her, his lips merely a milometer from her ear, his breath bouncing off her neck, making her cringe, "so…feisty…aren't you? I bet Agent Booth gets a real kick out of it…now…these silly, little clothes just won't do…let's slip you into something a little more comfortable…"

As Mike lunged to begin unbuttoning her blouse with one hand, Brennan suddenly snapped her head and roughly smashed it into her capturer's chin making him stumble back and release her, whilst she whirled around to hit Mike.

But it was too late…

A shot fired, startling the anthropologist.

Looking down, she glanced at the blood that was slowly omitting from her.

Her eyes bulged and her mouth hung open but no sound came.

Mike smirked evilly, watching her knees buckle from under her…

* * *

Seeley Booth pulled up outside warehouse seven with exactly three minutes to go.

With his pulse racing he jumped out of the car and raced to the entrance but stopped abruptly in his tracks when he heard a single gunshot.

Gasping, he wretched the door open and sped inside, gun at the ready.

He was plunged into a semi-darkened environment.

Peering around himself, he tried desperately to see where the shots might have come from.

He found no people brandishing weapons anywhere in the vicinity but there was something that caught his attention.

In the corner of the room he saw a dark figure that looked like it was hunched over.

Squinting, he failed to get a better view and decided to step closer.

At the sound of his foot falling to the floor the figure instantly jumped and looked up at the noise, whimpering quietly.

"It-It's alright, I'm FBI", Booth mumbled drawing closer, still trying to get a better look at the captive.

The person then started squirming and mumbling loudly, fighting against his restraints and gag.

It was as his head was thrown back finally Seeley saw who it was.

"Jared!" he exclaimed, racing forward and beginning to untie his older brother.

"S-Seel, h-he h-has D-Doctor B-Brennan", Jared gasped, "h-he h-has a g-gun…"

Seeley's heart thumped in his chest with alarm.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" he asked hurriedly.

Jared nodded, "yeah okay, just a little battered and bruised, I think I've a broken nose but other then that…"

Booth helped his brother stand up.

"Listen Jared, a swat team will be here soon alright, you just get out of here and get as far away as possible and when you see them-direct them here".

Jared began to protest. "No way man! I'm not leaving you here on your own with no back-up, are you crazy?"

Booth rolled his eyes and argued, "look Jared, it's my job alright, I'll be fine, all I'm worried about is getting Bones back!"

Jared threw him a look of pity and understanding told him he understood and began to make his way out of the warehouse.

At the last minute he turned back to his little brother.

"Are you sure you will be okay Seel?"

Booth turned, "yeah I'll be fine…go!"

"Ok, look after yourself", the older man said cautiously before limping his way out of the warehouse.

As soon as his brother's back was turned, Seeley jumped into action and made his way into the next room where he could hear voices.

"Strap her down…she's a fighter, she'll kick…" he heard someone command.

Booth tentively tip-toed in the shadows, stepping behind the four men who were gathered around a bed.

His eyes grew unbelievingly wide as he saw what lay on there.

There, positioned on her back, her head flat on the pillows, her arms tied to the bed-posts on the head-board and her feet tied to the bed-posts on the end of the bed, was his partner, Temperance Brennan.

She was trashing around wildly, and Booth could now see that there was a lot of blood pooling at the end of the bed.

She was shot, that was for sure, right in the thigh.

At the sight of his injured partner, bound to the bed, Booth snapped and instantly began firing his gun, hitting one of the guys in the back.

"What the-"

The other three whiled around at the noise and began firing wildly into the darkness, but Booth dodged the badly aimed bullets easily.

"Glad you good join us Agent Booth", spoke one man who was half-hidden by a gloomy shadow.

Booth stayed in the shade as the man continued talking, this time to the remaining two guards, banishing them from the warehouse. They took off at the speed of light, leaving Booth standing alone with one man.

"Why don't you drop your weapon, slide it out to me and step out of the shadows Booth like a good little agent," the man smirked cheekily, pointing his gun down at Brennan who had now passed out on the bed, "either that or your partner will die quicker".

Gritting his teeth, Booth did as he was told, there was no way he was risking Bones' life.

His gun slid loudly across the floor and he watched intently as the mysterious man picked it up, removed the bullets and threw it away.

"Okay, now, c'mon out", he barked, bringing the gun closer to Brennan.

Taking a deep breath, Booth took a large step in front of him, and was immediately basked with a dim sunlight omitting from the window above them.

The man smirked when he saw him.

"You're just as I remember you, tall, muscular with a cocky air about you…" he snarled, his face suddenly twisting into an ugly glare.

Booth glared right back and spat, "what the hell is your problem? I don't even know you!"

A harsh chuckle pierced the tension and the man shifted to the right so now Booth could view him clearly.

"Of course you don't Seeley! Why would you ever remember me? I was the scum at the bottom of your shoe in High School! You were a God and I was a jester for everyone to laugh at!" the man roared with fury, his gun never leaving Brennan's direction.

Booth's eyes were glued to the man's face as it was now clearly visible, he recognised him immediately. He spoke tentively, "so…you know me from High School huh? I think I'd remember you and I don't recall a Mike Johnston…"

The sickening smirk was back, "so you figured it out did you? You figured out who I am?"

Booth nodded his head, everything falling into place now.

He began quietly, "you must have befriended Jared specifically for you revenge. You knew that when you faked your own kidnap, your girlfriend Ella would tell your so-called friend Jared who happened to have a brother at the FBI named Seeley Booth. It was the most perfect way for you to get revenge on me".

Mike was now smiling widely.

"Well, well, well, you are good aren't you? Once you get going…you are right about everything so far…but you still don't know who I am."

Booth frowned deeply.

"You were right Agent Booth, you didn't go to High School with a Mike Johnston".

Now the Agent was just confused.

"But you just said we went to school toget-wait…" Booth trailed off, squinting his eyes and studying his face a little deeper. There was something about him that looked oddly familiar.

"You…you're name isn't Mike Johnston is it?"

'Mike' laughed again, "wow…you are a better Agent then I thought…clearly better then the philistine you used to be…"

Booth gasped at his words.

_Did he just say philistine?_

Taking another attentive step towards him Booth peered at him, trying to imagine him as a teenager with thick black glasses, slightly thinner and shorter with a lot of acne.

When he came to his conclusion he asked quietly, "Harlan? Harlan Kinney?"

The man turned his head as he saw Booth come closer. His ear pricked up.

"Yes Seeley?" he smirked, his fingers clutching the gun and turning deathly white.

Booth closed his eyes for a second as it all began to slip into place.

"Starting to realise now Agent Booth? Starting to get why I had to do all this?" he whispered menacingly, this time jabbing Brennan in the side of the head with the gun.

Booth leapt forward and cried out when he saw him continue to hurt his unconscious partner.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" he roared, forgetting himself.

Harlan smirked devilishly and reached out with his hand to touch Temperance's arm.

He began stroking up her arm, towards her neck and down to her chest with the back of his finger, ever so gently.

"She's so soft Agent Booth, has skin like an angel…I bet you'd love to touch her like this…" he murmured, throwing him a smug grin.

Booth bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from screaming at him, he began to shake as he saw Harlan's finger edge towards his partner's breasts.

"Stop. It." he spat, gritting his teeth, his eyes flashing dangerously.

Harlan withdrew his finger and turned to face him.

"Why are you doing this Harlan? What did I ever do to you that makes me deserve my brother and partner being kidnapped?" Booth asked softly, noticing with relief that he had withdraw his gun from his partner and was now aiming it at him instead.

Harlan laughed hysterically, his maddened tone alarming Booth dramatically.

"What did you ever do? You're joking right? YOU AND YOUR BUDDIES COMPLETELY HUMILIATED ME! YOU TREATED ME LIKE SHIT! YOU-YOU DATED THE ONE GIRL I'D GIVE THE WORLD FOR!" he roared, his face shinning a deadly red and his hand holding the gun started to shake.

Booth opened his mouth but was cut off abruptly.

"Now granted Agent Booth, high school was a long time ago…I have since forgotten all the childish behaviour that went on…the fact you stole Jenny Pinkinson from me, you humiliated me on front of our entire year, you strutted around the school as if you were some sort of God…those little things I can easily forget…but then, then you did the unthinkable…" he paused and Booth found himself holding in his breath in anticipation.

"You killed my brother…" he mumbled softly, almost to himself.

Booth leaned forward, convinced he had heard him wrong.

"What? I never-"

"-DON'T YOU DARE DENY IT BOOTH! I KNOW IT WAS YOU! YOU-YOU KILLED MY BROTHER IN COLD BLOOD!"

"Nick?" Booth asked, feeling utterly unsure of himself.

"NO NOT NICK! NICK WAS KILLED BY MY OLD BOSS FOR OWING MONEY FOR DRUGS! NICK'S MY COUSIN NOT MY BROTHER, I'M TALKING ABOUT MY BIOLOGICAL BROTHER RALPH!" he boomed, his hand getting shakier and nearer to the trigger by the moment.

Booth was tremendously confused.

"What are you talking about? I never even knew your brother!"

"OH YOU DIDN'T? I THINK YOU DID AGENT BOOTH! HE WAS TRAINING IN THE FBI WHEN YOU STARTED! HE WAS UNDER THE NAME JOHNSTON BUT HE WAS STILL MY BROTHER AND YOU KILLED HIM!"

Booth was exasperated, confused, and getting rather edgy at the sight of the gun and the amount of blood loss omitting from Brennan.

He would keep Harlan talking for as long as he possibly could until the SWAT team got here, he strove for something to say, anything!

"Harlan I swear I had nothing to do with your brother's death, I-I didn't even know your brother. I-I mean is Nick not your brother? I don't really follow what you mean…"

Harlan laughed again in that insane, manic way of his.

"Of course you don't! I underestimated you Booth, I think you are still a philistine just like you were when you were seventeen. Nick is my cousin, my uncle-who was my mother's brother and his wife adopted us when Ralph and I were teenagers when our parents died. After I graduated High School I started going by the name Mike-my middle name because I was teased in school for my first name, and when I was twenty one I changed my name to Johnston-my uncle's and mother's last name…god do I have to spell it out for you?" he spat, wiping his hand across his brow, feeling utterly flustered.

Suddenly, something caught Booth's eye, a flicker of light coming from the other room-barely visible from the slightly ajar door.

It looked like his back-up had finally arrived.

_Just keep him talking_, he thought to himself eagerly with a frightened look at his partner.

"But that doesn't explain why you think I killed your brother? I mean how did he die?" he asked, trying not to sound too anxious as he saw many men quietly shuffle into the warehouse.

"He died whilst training and doing target practice! A gun accidentally went off and the bullet went straight through his heart!" Harlan yelled, beginning to sob uncontrollably.

Booth wracked his brain, the story was beginning to sound familiar. He was beginning to remember, his first week of FBI training…

"Wait…I remember, he was a small kid, maybe two or three years younger then us…he-he had a 22 calibre we were using to hit the targets, he-he was standing to my left and he turned to me…" Booth mumbled, frowning as he tried to remember.

Harlan began to nod his head vigorously, "you see? You're starting to remember now are you Booth? Did you really forget that you killed someone that young? Did the army really fuck you up that much?!"

Booth gripped his hands into fists.

"No Harlan! I wasn't the one that shot him, I remember it specifically! I was standing to his left and we turned to each other to swap sides, if I was the one that shot him then the bullet would have entered the right part of his chest, missing his heart!" he rambled quickly.

Harlan frowned at him, "no-no…I-I was told that he was killed by another FBI agent! I-I was given a list of people that were there and as soon as I saw your name I…I knew it was you! It had to be! You must have known he was related to me! That's why you did it!"

He was getting desperate now…

"No Harlan, that's not what happened! The guy, Johnny Davidson on the other side of your brother, it-it was his gun that went off…not mine. I know 'cause he…put a pistol in his mouth for it six months later…" mumbled sadly, remembering reading the obituary of the young man who was once so full of life.

"NO!" Harlan roared, seemedly fed up of talking now and held the gun up to aim at Booth's head.

"I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID SEELEY! FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME IN HIGH SCHOOL AND WHAT YOU DID TO MY BROTHER! YOU ARE GOING TO DIE TONIGHT!"

And he raised the gun and squeezed his finger.

"NO!" someone roared from behind him and shoved him just as he pulled the trigger, making him miss his target.

Booth ducked as the bullet went whizzing by his ear and watched in shock as Harlan fell to the floor and the figure of a furious-looking Temperance Brennan glaring down at him as she lay upright on the bed.

She had kicked him with her good leg, hard. It was beyond Booth how she managed to get one of her legs untied.

"Bones I-"

"Watch out!" she yelled as Harlan jumped up whiling his gun, aiming at Booth.

Booth was too fast for him and punched him in the face, making him stagger backwards and drop the gun.

Booth now began to attack him, obviously having the advantage as he was bigger and stronger.

Harlan struck back, winding Booth making him double-over. He jumped on his back and wrapped his arms around his throat, trying to strangle him.

Booth choked and pulled at his neck, swinging around desperately, trying to throw Harlan off, he did…

Harlan Kinney went right through the window.

Booth watched in shock as Kinney's body went flying through the window, he didn't have time to breath however as after a moment he saw the man push himself up off the ground and stagger off into the impending darkness.

God he was determined.

"KINNEY! KINNEY!" he roared to no avail, getting ready to take off after him.

The swat team now burst in through the door, but they were too late.

Booth had half his leg out the window when he heard something that made his heart stop.

"Booth…" Brennan mumbled, her voice so quiet and childlike, before her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell back against the pillows.

Seeley's eyes widened and he raced over to her where she now had passed out again.

Quickly he began to wrap her blooded leg tightly up in sheets before lifting her up like a baby and carrying her out of the room, following the swat team, running as fast as his legs could carry him all the time thinking desperately to himself, _please don't let her die, please don't let her die, please God don't let her die…_

**A/N: Wow…that was the longest chapter yet! Sorry if it got a little rushed at the end, I guess I was just getting impatient! Don't worry folks there's still more chapters to come, Mike/Harlan has to be caught after all and of course we have to find out Brennan's fate! Thankies to everyone who has supported me so far, you guys are amazing! xx**


	18. Bedsides And Bridal Style

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 18: Bedsides And Bridal-Style**

**A/N: I am aware that some of you were unable to read all of the last chapter. I am sorry to hear that but I've absolutely no idea why that is…I'm stumped really…just keep clicking into it and see what happens, I assure you I definitely posted all of it!**

**Thankies to everyone who reviewed, it means a lot to me! There's maybe two-five chapters left, depends on how long I decide to make them! Hope you all enjoy! Xx**

The soft beeping of the heart monitor was what kept Special Agent Seeley Booth from going crazy.

It's low, rhythmic rumble was like music to his ears.

He sat, half hunched over the hospital bed, his hands clasped together in prayer, his head hung low, his St. Christopher medal swinging off his neck.

Fresh, salty tears stung his eyes and threatened to spill down his cheeks.

He reached up suddenly and pulled the medal over his head, clasping it in his hand.

He didn't dare look up and stare at the figure in the bed for fear he would break down completely.

Outside, he could hear commotion, presumably his partner's father demanding that he be allowed into the room.

Taking a deep breath, he reached down and squeezed the small, fragile hand and murmured, "I'll be right back…I promise…" before bringing it up to his lips, kissing it tenderly and leaving his medal to rest in her palm.

Standing up, he made his way silently out of the room and into the hallway were a small congregation of people resided.

"I'm sorry Mr Keenan, there's just one person in allowed to see her at a time. She just had a major blood transfusion, she lost a lot of blood from the bullet entry into her tibia and quadriceps…" the doctor trailed off, looking slightly alarmed as the older man began to square up to him.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Max saw someone step out of the room and he immediately felt his blood pressure rise.

"BOOTH! WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DAUGHTER GOD DAMNIT!?" he demanded, striding up to the agent and bringing his face a mere inch from his.

Booth stood his ground and stared intently at Max.

"She was shot Max, in the leg, she lost a lot of blood, I found her and brought her here…" he mumbled calmly, his eyes never leaving the older man's.

The rest of the group, consisting of Russ, Angela, Hodgins, Cam and Sweets, looked on silently.

"How did you even get into see her?" Max hissed, "you're not family…"

Booth suppressed a sly grin, "well I told the doctors I was her partner, it's not my fault they misinterpreted my meaning…"

Max rolled his eyes and shoved passed him, ignoring the doctors protests and walking straight into the hospital room without a backwards glance.

Booth knew this was normal behaviour for a worried father so he wasn't offended by Max's reaction, instead he turned his attention towards the others.

"She's alright…just sleeping…" he informed them, as Angela waltzed over and threw her arms around his neck.

"Oh thank god," she mumbled into his shoulder.

Booth hugged her back lightly before turning to Russ.

"Tell Max I'm sorry I didn't inform him sooner," when Russ nodded he continued, "I'm just going to see how my brother's doing, be back in a minute".

He took off down the hallway.

Seeley slowed his pace when he came within view of his parents, white faced and jittery, sitting outside a ward talking adamantly to a young, blond doctor.

His mother was the first to spot him after the doctor walked away.

"Oh Seeley!" she squealed, racing towards him and throwing her arms around his neck.

Booth hugged his mother back tightly, watching with a grave face as his father approached him looking pensive.

"It's alright Mom, I'm okay…" he mumbled into her hair.

"Oh my poor boy! Something could of happened to you! Oh and you found Jared, you are so good at your job and I'm just so glad-"

"-Give the boy room to breathe honey", Seeley's father smirked, winking at his youngest son.

The older woman released her son hesitantly and turned to her husband.

He looked at Seeley intently for a moment before pulling him into a hug too.

"I know I don't say it often enough son, but I'm proud of you…" he mumbled into his ear.

Booth let out a puff of air in surprise.

All his life his father and he never really saw eye to eye. Sure they loved each other, but they were so different and had different opinions on life, especially when it came to life's choices.

It made his heart swell when he heard his father say those words, but he'd never admit it.

"Thanks Dad," he replied quietly, before clearing his throat as they broke apart.

"So…how's Jared?" he asked nervously as his father sat back down beside his mother.

The two glanced up at him, small smiles gracing their faces, "the doctor says he'll be as right as rain in a few days, he just needs a few stitches and a good rest", his mother informed him, her eyes brimming with tears.

"How's your partner?" she asked, her tone changing slightly from relief to subtle curiosity.

Seeley sighed and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes.

"She's had a blood transfusion, doc said she'll need crutches and bandages but she'll be fine in a few weeks…" he muttered quietly, still not looking at them.

His parents exchanged a worried glance.

"You sound bitter Seeley, you should be relieved", his mother told him, the confusion in her voice evident.

Booth was silent for a few moments, opening his eyes to stare at the florescent light that was flickering over-head.

"It's my fault…" he said so quietly that both his mother and father had to lean forward to hear him.

"Seeley, what do you mean it's your fault? How-"

"-Sorry to interrupt…" interrupted a voice from a little way down the corridor.

The Booths turned and was greeted by the frame of Angela Montenegro.

"Angela, what's up? Is Bones okay?" Booth asked frantically, racing towards her.

She smiled softly at his reaction, he really was cute when he was worried.

"Yes she's fine, I just came to tell you that she's just woke up and is asking to see you", Angela informed him with a small smirk and a polite nod to his parents.

Seeley glanced back at his mother and father, throwing them an apologetic smile before replying hurriedly, "alright, I'm coming…"

Angela suppressed a laugh as he sped past her, down the corridor and out of sight.

She turned to his parents who were gaping, open-mouthed.

Mrs Booth glanced up at the artist and the two shared a knowing smirk.

There went a man in love…

* * *

Booth stood nervously outside his partner's hospital room door.

There was no sign of her family or the squints.

_They all must have gone for coffee_, thought Booth as he shifted his weight from foot to foot for a moment, before taking a deep breath and opening the door and stepping in quietly.

He peered into the room from the doorway, almost afraid to go in.

Brennan heard the door open and turned to look at him.

"Booth…" she mumbled softly, upon seeing her partner hover in the doorway.

"Hey Bones…" he whispered softly, stepping fully into the room and closing the door behind him.

The two partners merely stared at one another for a few, silent moments.

The tired blue eyes, met the shinning chocolate-brown ones and held the gaze tenderly.

Suddenly, Temperance broke the gaze and looked down at her hand where Booth's medal still lay.

"You left this with me?" she mumbled, her voice confused and more question-like then statement.

Booth edged towards her bed and sat down on the chair.

"Yeah…I-I know you don't believe in that stuff but I…I dunno I felt, better leaving it with you when I had to go…" he muttered, feeling extremely stupid all of a sudden.

A minute smile graced his partner's pale face as she stared at the medal, letting it lace between her fingers.

"It was a nice gesture all the same, thank you Booth…" she said quietly, not looking at him as she reached for his hand and squeezed it tightly.

Booth stared at the small hand covering his for a moment, his mouth going dry. He had absolutely no idea what to say, so he blurted the first thing that came to mind.

"So where's your Dad and the squints gone?"

Brennan sighed, letting his hand go and looked up at the ceiling, a little chuckle omitting from her.

"They're gone to the cafeteria to get some coffee, they said the ones from the machines are just awful."

Booth kept his head down, staring intently at his now solitary hand.

"Yeah the coffee's crap", he agree softly.

The two partners were engulfed in silence.

It seemed neither wanted to address the issue at hand, but after a moment Brennan decided it was irrational not to talk about it.

"Angela told me he got away…" she trailed off, not sure how to continue.

Booth nodded his lowly-bent head. "Yeah…" he replied bitterly, refusing to look her in the eye.

The anthropologist took this opportunity to look out the window.

The sky was darkened and the moon was starting to peek out between the clouds.

She sighed deeply and could feel her partner's eyes watch her closely.

"You look tired Booth…" she said after a moment's silence, "why don't you go home, have a shower, spend some time with your parents and go to bed?"

Booth regarded her for a moment before mumbling something incoherent.

"What?" Brennan asked as she couldn't understand him.

He cleared his throat nervously and muttered, "I uh…don't want to leave you…uh you know…alone…" he flinched as he finished as if he were expecting her to attack him for saying such a thing.

Instead, Brennan smiled softly and said quietly in her best squint-speak, "Booth, it's irrational to have a fear of leaving me here alone, it is a hospital after all. I'll be perfectly safe from harm".

Booth stared at her for a moment, as her blue, shinning eyes connected with his before replying, "yeah I know Bones but…you know, he's still out there and he could come back and-"

"-Booth! You look exhausted you need your rest, there is no way I am allowing you to stay here all night", she said, her tone demanding and final even in her weakened state.

Booth admired his partner greatly, she just had a major blood transfusion and yet she still found the energy to boss him around…amazing.

"Alright, alright Bones…if that's what you want…" he murmured, his eyes twinkling against the moonlight as he walked backwards towards the door, his gaze never leaving her's.

The two partners stared into each other's eyes as a sense of understanding passed between them.

A small smile tugged at the edge of Booth's mouth before he whispered, "good night Bones", turning to leave, pausing only when he heard Brennan reply softly, "goodnight Booth".

Once her partner had left, Temperance shrank back into her pillows with a heavy sigh, the events of the last few days weighing heavily on her mind. Glancing up at the ceiling she saw the soft flickers of the moon cast shadows which gloomed deeply. They brought back bad memories…

Shaking her head, she willed the nasty memoirs from her and closed her mind, waiting for sleep to claim her.

Unbeknownst to her, a mere ten feet away on the other side of the door sat her relentless, stubborn, sleep-deprived partner whom refused to leave her.

He knew that she'd be less than pleased when she saw him emerge the next morning in the same clothing as the night before but watching that playful, mischievous smirk grace her very beautiful, very alive face as her sea-blue eyes burned with intensity, made sleeping sitting-up on a hard, uncomfortable, plastic chair, seem oddly worth it.

* * *

It had been nine days since Jared Booth and Temperance Brennan had been rescued.

Mr and Mrs Booth had taken it upon themselves to take over their youngest son's apartment - sleeping in his bed whilst they made up Parker's room for Jared.

Booth rolled his eyes but remained silent as they drove to the hospital, Seeley and his mother in his car whilst his father tailed behind.

The agent felt a familiar warmth in the pit of his stomach as he thought about his partner's release from the hospital.

It had been a rough few days, from taking un-paid leave off work, spending all day in hospital taking turns for the coffee run and of course, pretending to your partner that you're going home at night when in reality you're sleeping outside in the corridor on the plastic chair from hell with a change of clothes in the duffel bag by your feet.

Getting out of the car, Booth opens the door for his mother and walks into the hospital.

"Okay Seeley, Jared's room is up this way, your father and I are going to bring him back to your place", his mother told him, looking around her for the arrival of her husband.

"Alright Mom, well, I'm gonna bring Bones home first and I'll be home later okay?" Seeley replied, giving his mother a quick hug.

"Okay dear, such a strange thing to call her…" she mumbled more to herself but Booth caught it anyway.

Giving her his best charm-smile (which evidently never worked on her) he waved goodbye and walked off to the left.

He was only walking for a few moments when he saw Angela and Sweets come into view.

He walked attentively towards them, catching a snippet of their conversation.

""Wow…your life is complicated…" Sweets was saying.

"Yep", came Angela's off-handed response.

"Ok so let me get this straight. You're engaged to Hodgins, but were married to a guy in Fiji who you haven't seen since, are highly sexually attracted to Booth and have had lesbian dreams about Dr. Brennan"…

Booth's ears pricked up at the last bit.

"Yeah that's about the gist of it", Angela replied sweetly.

Booth began to laugh as the two saw him. "Whoa Angela, you and Bones? I really wanna hear the rest of this conversation…"

Angela turned to grin devilishly at him, her eyes sparkling, "why? I'm sure your sex-dreams are exciting enough…"

Booth just gaped open-mouthed at her, trying and failing to form a sentence as the artist winked at him and Sweets threw him a knowing glance.

Before anything further could be discussed, the room door opened, and out hobbled Temperance Brennan, supported on crutches.

"H-Hey Bones!" Booth exclaimed a little too enthusiastically, jumping forward to hold open the door for her, trying desperately to escape the uncomfortable all-knowing smirks of his companions.

Brennan flashed him a small smile before rolling her eyes.

"Booth, I'm perfectly capable of holding open the door", she mock-scolded him as Angela enveloped her in a big hug.

Booth grinned at her - his charm smile at full blast.

"I know Bones, I know…"

After all the hugs and greetings, the promises from Max that he'd be over the very next day to check on her and of course the defined, hard look in Booth's direction that told him 'if anything happens to her I'll hurt you' were passed Booth turned to his partner and rested his hand on her back protectively.

Brennan glanced at him as he said quietly in her ear, "c'mon Bones, I'm taking you home…"

There was no complaint on her end, she'd just be happy to sleep in a warm, comfortable bed…

* * *

"I don't think we thought this all the way through…" Brennan muttered, clearly aggravated by their current situation.

As much as he hated to admit it, Booth knew she was right, they really hadn't.

At present, the two partners found themselves at the bottom of the stairs of Brennan's apartment block, Brennan struggling to get up the stairs with her crutches and Booth trying to keep an eye on her and carry up her bags of clothes that Angela brought into hospital for her.

After watching his partner struggle and after he dropped another item for the umpteenth time Booth lost it.

"Okay! That's it!" he growled, suddenly dropping all the bags at the end of the stairs and approaching his partner.

"Booth what're you - BOOTH!" Brennan squealed in very un-Brennan-like tone as he suddenly lifted her up off the ground, causing her to drop her crutches and fling her arms around his neck tightly for support.

"BOOTH PUT ME DOWN!" she yelled in alarm, grabbing fist-fulls of his t-shirt so tightly that her knuckles whitened.

Booth could sense her distress but confidently ignored her.

"No way Bones…I told you it'd be too dangerous to take the stairs but would you listen? No…so this is the only alternative…" he grumbled as he tenderly hooked her legs under his arm and began carrying her bridal-style up the flights of stairs as gently as possible, willing desperately for the intimate thoughts of how this must look out of his brain.

Silence ensued as Booth wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to his chest, walking slowly up the stairs, rolling his eyes at the fact she'd have to live on one of the top floors of the building.

"What about my stuff?" Brennan asked quietly, her soft breath bouncing off his neck as she rested her chin on his shoulder, trying to ignore the fact that this was even happening.

"I'll leave you up in your apartment and I'll run back down and get it-"

"-No Booth you don't have to-"

"-Bones how the hell are you supposed to get them? There's no way you're going to make it all the way down the stairs and all the way back up is there? So accept it".

That shut her up…

Well, at least he thought it did…

"This is just another conveyance of your alpha-male tendencies you know", she said matter-of-factly, trying her best to make her tone sound more aggravated then anything else.

"Yeah I know, I know….I'm showing that I'm all manly and being protective over you to lay claim, I get it", he muttered agitatedly, still trying to ignore the fact that he was actually carrying his partner in his arms the same way as a groom would his bride.

Brennan smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Just because you carry me up a few flights of stairs it gives you no claim over me Booth", she replied playfully as she heard her partner groan as they reached her front door.

"Ugh Bones! One, that was not a few flights, that was eight to be exact! And two, when did I ever say I wanted claim over you?" he asked, his voice intense and strained as he held her, turning his head to the side to stare straight into her eyes.

Brennan's breath caught in her throat as she too turned her head.

The lips lay a mere inch apart, Booth tightened his grip on her waist whilst she clutched the fabric of his shirt tighter in her fists.

The stared at one another, both lost in each other's gazes for a moment.

It felt as if the whole, wide world had stopped and they were the only one's still breathing. It was deathly quiet, neither seemed willing to move, neither seemed able to as the dark-brown eyes caught the blue.

It was mystifying, alluring, arousing…and yet, neither could push themselves to move that extra inch forward…

Booth cleared his throat loudly, suddenly remembering their predicament.

"Uh…Bones…house key?" he mumbled, his eyes adverted from her.

"Oh, yeah, um, Ange put the new set of keys in my pocket…since you knocked my door in I had to get a new one", she replied, her playfully-stern tone suddenly making an appearance again.

Suddenly, she began shifting in the agent's arms and he struggled to keep a hold of her.

"Woah Bones, steady as she goes…" Booth exclaimed as Brennan began to wriggle in his arms and dig her hand in her pocket.

"I don't…know…what…that…means…" she gasped as she struggled to find her key, deep in her pants' pocket.

Booth merely rolled his eyes and held her steady.

"Aha!" she smiled with glee as the brand new key appeared in her palm.

"Great, now give it here so I can open the door", Booth ordered.

"And how exactly pray tell, are you supposed to support me and open the door at the same time?" the anthropologist asked with an air of intellect.

Booth grumbled and mimicked her voice quietly, sounding like a five year old, "and how pray tell…whatever Bones! Just open the damn door! My arms are about to give out!"

Brennan smirked in triumph and leaned forward slightly in Booth's arms and slid the key into the key-hole, turning the handle gently.

The door swung open and Brennan's eyes lit up as she saw her familiar abode.

It took nine days in hospital for her to appreciate her own space.

"Now to carry you over the threshold", Booth said jokingly, his face slowly turning to horror once he realized what he just said.

_Did I just say carry you over the threshold? Oh God!_

Brennan looked at him puzzlingly for a moment, her head cocked to the side as she pondered his words.

"What do you mean Boo-"

"-Let's get you settled on the couch shall we? Then I'll go and grab your bags!" Booth murmured hurriedly cutting across her.

He stepped carefully across the living room, towards the couch, and set her down gently.

Once Brennan felt her back against the couch, she looked up, her arms still around his neck.

The two felt themselves get drawn in to one another again and Brennan instantly withdrew her arms and looked away.

Booth, (more so for something to do in the aftermath of awkwardness) rubbed his hands together and said softly, "okay well I'll go get your stuff…"

Brennan nodded and watched him go, heaving a deep sigh as she did so.

Things were changing between them, even she could sense that…

After a few moments, Booth was back - bags in tow and closing the door behind him.

Grinning at her, he lay her crutches beside her and muttered the sweetest words Brennan had heard in a long time.

"So Bones…how about some Thai Food?"

**A/N: Well that's chapter 18. Hope you liked it, originally I was going to keep going but I decided to split my massive chapter into 2 chapters. Up next is a Booth&Brennan heart-to-heart, some romance and some shocking mail…**

**And I would like your opinions on something, those of you who have read "To Make Love" do you want me do to a sequel? Because I've definitely been thinking about it... let me know! xx**


	19. Tantrums And Confessions

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 19: Tantrums And Confessions…**

**A/N: Okay, I know I promised things for this chapter, but I actually changed it around a little, this was originally chapter 20, but I've made it 19 so hope you don't mind, actually you probably won't even notice! Ha! Enjoy! -wired2damoon- xx**

"I don't care what anyone says, there's nothing better then Thai food and good company on a Friday night", smiled Seeley Booth as he and his partner Temperance Brennan settled themselves on the couch.

"I'd still love a plasma though…" he added as a soft after-thought.

"Then what would be the point of good company?" Brennan asked cheekily.

Booth looked sideways at her and laughed, "ah…touché!"

The room erupted in laughter at the last statement, Brennan shaking her head and tucking into her spring rolls.

Whilst she did, Booth sat back on his chair and admired her from a distance.

It was a rare moment of opportunity for him these days after everything that had happened.

She looked so…at peace as she leaned back, her leg fully supported on a futon.

Her eyes glimmered in the evening light that shone through the apartment. Her pale skin seemed to glisten and glow as it adjusted to the heat.

Booth's heart leapt as his attention was fully drawn to her lips.

Her tongue had sneaked out and wet her lower lip minutely, leaving a fresh, soft trail of moisture behind.

Just the mere sight of it was enough to make Booth go crazy.

Shaking his head vigorously he began to take bites of his own food when a notion suddenly struck him.

This amazing, intelligent, beautiful woman nearly died and it was all his fault…

"I'm sorry", he mumbled suddenly, startling both his partner and himself.

"For what?" Brennan asked utterly puzzled as she was aware that they had just had been sitting in utter silence for the last ten minutes.

"I nearly got you killed…" he whispered softly, his eyes adverted from her's.

Brennan frowned as she heard this, "Booth what-"

"-No!" he interrupted, "let me say this, I have to…"

Temperance nodded and watched as Booth sat forward on the armchair, leaning closer to her.

"Look Bones it's-it's my fault that you got shot. Harlan Kinney only kidnapped you to get to me, meaning it's my fault!" spat Booth, his voice deeply bitter as his mind scolded him for being repetitive.

Brennan began to shake her head in protest but Booth interrupted her.

"No, no, don't even try to argue Bones, you can't say it isn't my fault, because it is…I…I risked your life…" he trailed off, his head lowered.

Brennan's face moulded to pity as she murmured softly, "well really I risked my own life, I attacked him and his men and he shot me…so really, it wasn't your fault…"

Booth glared at her, she obviously didn't this.

"No Bones! That's not what I meant, I mean if it wasn't for me you never would have been in that situation in the first place! I put a mad man in the same room as you and got you shot!"

Brennan regarded him for a moment in silence, she seemed to be thinking over her response.

"Well…" she mumbled softly, "I guess we're even then…"

Booth stared at her in confusion, his mouth hanging slightly open.

"Bones what-"

"-Pam".

One little word and the partners were thrown into an awkward silence.

Brennan was now the one who gazed attentively at the ground, whilst Booth tried to catch her eye.

"Bones that's-"

"-That's what Booth? Not my fault? Of course it's my fault! That woman was unstable and found me a threat so tried to shoot me!" Brennan spat, realising this was the first time since it happened that they talked about it.

Booth leaned further forward on the chair and reached out, his hand enveloping her's.

Brennan stared at Booth's hand for a moment before continuing.

"It was my fault, I was the one who aggravated her, I was the one she was jealous of, the bullet was meant for me and you and your stupid duty made you take it for me!" she almost growled, glaring at his hand as if she wanted it to spontaneously catch fire.

"Bones it wasn't duty that made me take that bullet…" Booth murmured softly, squeezing her hand.

Brennan's voice caught in her throat as she waited for him to continue, but he didn't.

"Regardless as who's fault was when and how, I still am just thankful that you're okay Bones, I…I just don't know what I'd done if something happened to you…" he whispered, his hand reaching up and nudging her chin gently to get her to look at him.

Their gazes interlocked intensely.

"Yeah…I know the feeling…" Brennan replied before she could stop herself.

Booth's head twitched slightly at her words, "what do you-"

Brennan merely shook her head and hurriedly said, "it's nothing…nothing…"

Booth's hand tightened on her's and she let it, enjoying the feeling of his skin against her.

It seemed as if all the oxygen had left the room and they were all that were in it.

It was a nice, yet terrifying feeling, that Brennan, just wasn't ready to face.

It was at times like this when she wished she could just get up and walk away…

"Can you pass the rice please?" she asked, breaking their moment and slipping her hand out from underneath his craftily to point at the table.

Booth obviously realized what she was doing but didn't comment, handed her the rice and shifted back in his chair as if nothing had happened.

They really were getting better at playing their "just partners" roles.

* * *

After another hour of eating and playful bickering, Brennan found herself glancing at her watch.

"Don't you have Parker tomorrow Booth?" she asked, realizing how late it was getting.

Booth jumped and stared at his own watch.

"Yeah…" he muttered slowly, "but Bones you know I don't have to-"

"-Booth I'll be fine!" Brennan rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what was coming.

Booth was relentless however, "but Bones, Kinney is still out there I mean-"

"-Booth, go home. You need to collect Parker early in the morning and need your rest!"

The agent nodded slowly, a small smile forming on his handsome face.

Brennan frowned, she knew that look, he had an idea.

"Well…I could…always stay here tonight…." he mumbled softly, his gaze not fully meeting her's.

Brennan smirked, knowing well that she was not going to win this one, even if she was completely active, energetic and mobile, which at present she wasn't.

Rolling her eyes she sighed, "alright, alright, you can stay, I'll go make up the guest room…" she went to sit up.

Booth jumped off the chair as if he were scalded, "oh no you don't Bones! You don't move! I'll be perfectly fine doing it myself, there's no need for hospitality here, you're-"

"-Booth I have a damaged leg, I'm not dying…"

Booth inhaled deeply as she said that, and turned away from her, he did not wish her to see how effected he was by those words.

"I know, but I still don't want you to go to any trouble for me…I-I'll just sort myself out", he rambled, turning his back fully and walking down the hall to where he knew was the spare room.

Brennan's eyes narrowed as she watched him go, he was acting odd, odder than usual that was…

"Strange…" she mumbled to herself, before shaking her head vigorously.

After several minutes, her partner arrived back to find her reading a forensic journal.

"Is that what you read for fun Bones?" he asked jokingly.

Brennan looked up at him, "yes and no, I'd read anything substantial at this point, I've never been out of work this long…"

Booth smirked, typical Bones.

"Not even on special occasions?"

She shook her head.

"When you're sick?"

"I don't get sick."

"So you're super human?"

"There's no such thing."

"What about Wonder Woman?"

"She's a fictional character Booth."

"Like Andy Lister?"

"Exactly, I'm glad you're finally grasping that concept Booth…"

The agent shook his head and continued to stare at his partner, who still had her eyes planted firmly on her book.

"Not even when I died?" he asked softly.

A beat passed between them uneventfully.

Booth seemed to be holding his breath and Brennan's gaze on the book had become unfocused.

"No…" she whispered, "no I-I went into work the next day…"

Booth let out a surprise gasp. Angela had told him she threw herself into her work but he never would have thought…

"You never even took one day off to grieve for me?" he asked, grimacing as he heard the hurt in his tone.

Brennan didn't glance up as she replied in a mono-tone, "you weren't really dead Booth…"

"Yeah but you didn't know that!" he almost shouted.

_Why was this bothering him so much?_

"I-I had work to do…" she murmured, so softly that Booth had to lean forward to hear her.

"Work? Your partner just died and you went to work?" Booth asked confusedly, trying to make sense of it all.

Brennan merely nodded, she seemed to have lost the ability to speak.

Booth frowned, looking down at her, hoping for some reaction, but she merely kept reading.

"Bones…" he whispered, "Bones…"

She refused to look at him, her grip tightening until her knuckles turned deathly white.

"Temperance…look at me…"

It was like gravity was pulling her head because before she knew it, her sea-blue eyes had connected with his brown and she was unable to look away.

"Do you want to talk about it? We never did get the chance to…"

She bit her lip before whispering, "there's nothing to talk about…"

Booth closed his eyes for a moment, asking God for patience.

"Bones…you-you shot Pam Nunan…."

Brennan swallowed roughly, watching intently, utterly glued to her seat as her partner walked over and kneeled down in front of her, taking her hand in his.

"Y-Yes…" was all she could manage.

Booth's thumb rubbed over the back of her hand gently.

"I-I'm sorry you had to do that Bones…I-I never wanted that to happen to you."

Brennan nodded, "it's not your fault…"

This time it was Booth who bit his lip.

"I left you unprotected, I-I couldn't stop her, you-you had to protect yourself, I understand that…"

Brennan placed her other hand over his and replied almost inaudibly, "Booth, I didn't just shoot Pam because she aimed at me…I-I shot her b-because she-she shot you…"

Booth inhaled sharply as her words sank into his brain.

His partner remained silent as he sorted through his thoughts.

"I'm sorry Bones…" he remarked, for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.

Brennan frowned, "for what?"

"I-I really did think you knew I wasn't dead, if-if I had of known I would have…I just…I never meant to leave you…"

Temperance eyes began to glisten, flashbacks of those horrid two weeks of her life when she thought her partner was dead, she never wanted to feel like that again.

"I've been on my own before."

Booth's head snapped up, that's not exactly the reply he was expecting.

"Yeah I know but-" he could feel his anger burn in his chest, "God Bones! Didn't you even miss me?"

The anthropologist merely stared at him as he stood up suddenly and began pacing back and forth in front of her.

"Booth what-"

"-I mean first you don't want to come to my FUNERAL, then when Angela CONVINCES you to go you don't shed one TEAR. Then, when you see I'm alive, there's no hug, no welcome back Booth, oh no…you PUNCH ME IN THE JAW! And let me tell ya Bones, that was no soft punch either! Then, you blame me and get mad at me for not telling you, you barge into my bathroom when I'm NAKED in the bath tub and yell at me, telling me that taking a bullet for you ONLY GOES SO FAR, then, when I tell you it was really Sweets' fault you still BLAME me and now you're telling me that when you thought I was dead you DIDN'T EVEN MISS ME?" Seeley finished, stopping pacing abruptly and whirling around to face her.

Temperance began to shake with fury, and even with her injured leg, she dragged herself up off the sofa, grabbed her crutches and stood in front of him, glaring up furiously into his face.

"HOW DARE YOU!" she screamed. "HOW THE HELL CAN YOU SAY THAT? WE'VE BEEN PARTNERS FOR THREE YEARS BOOTH, THREE DAMN YEARS! AND YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE THE DECENCY TO TELL ME YOU'RE STILL ALIVE! I MEAN FOR GOD'S SAKE, I THOUGHT IT WAS MY FAULT YOU WERE DEAD! MY FAULT! I FELT SO DAMN GUILTY, CONVINCING MYSELF DAY AFTER DAY THAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO SAY THAT I DIDN'T MISS YOU? OH COURSE I MISSED YOU! EVERY DAY I WOULD WAKE UP AND FEEL LIKE MY WHOLE WORLD WAS CRUMBLING DOWN AROUND ME! EVERY DAY THE PAIN IN MY HEART WOULD SUFFOCATE ME, KNOWING THAT I HAD TO SPEND ANOTHER DAY WITHOUT YOU, THAT ONCE AGAIN I WAS ENTIRELY ALONE WITH NO-ONE THAT UNDERSTOOD ME! HAVE YOU ANY IDEA HOW THAT FEELS? TO FEEL SO ALONE AND HELPLESS THAT YOU JUST CAN'T LIVE WITH YOURSELF? WELL…DO YOU?"

Temperance shook from head to toe as her shoulders slumped, she leant all her weight on the crutches.

Seeley was gob-smacked, he really had no idea what to say.

"Bones I-"

"NO! YOU HAD ABSOULUTELY NO IDEA WHAT I WAS GOING THROUGH! I WATCHED YOU DIE BOOTH, DIE… I WAS COVERED IN YOUR BLOOD WHEN YOUR WERE RUSHED TO THE HOSPITAL. I WAITED FOR FIFTHEEN HOURS WHILE YOU WERE IN SURGERY, WITHOUT SLEEPING, EATING OR EVEN GOING TO THE BATHROOM. I JUST SAT THERE, GOING OVER THE SHOOTING AGAIN AND AGAIN, TRYING TO THINK OF HOW IT COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT! I TORTURED MYSELF ENDLESSLY, BLAMED MYSELF FOR WHAT HAPPENED! AND THEN? THEN, I WAS APPROACHED BY THE SURGEON. I MAY NOT BE GOOD AT READING PEOPLE BUT I KNEW, I JUST KNEW BY HIS FACE - HE MUST HAVE BEEN ONE HELL OF A GOOD ACTOR! AND YOU KNOW WHAT I DID BOOTH? DO YOU KNOW WHAT I DID WHEN I FOUND OUT YOU DIED? I WENT HOME, STRIPPED OUT OF MY CLOTHES, GOT INTO THE SHOWER AND SCRUBED UNTIL EVERY LAST OUNCE OF YOUR BLOOD WAS GONE FROM MY SYSTEM. THEN, I GOT SOME GAS AND BURNED MY CLOTHES, UNTIL THERE WAS NOTHING LEFT BUT ASH…" she paused for a moment, her angered glared burning into Booth.

"AND THEN DO YOU KNOW WHAT I DID? I SCREAMED. YELLED. BROKE MY POSSESSIONS. AND CRIED. I CRIED BOOTH, FOR THAT ONE NIGHT, I SCREAMED AND YELLED AND CRIED AND THEN? I PUT MY HEART INTO A BOX…JUST LIKE I TOLD ZACK TO DO…AND COMPARTMENTALIZED…"

Suddenly, Temperance felt extremely light-headed and her knees buckled from under her.

Seeley leapt forward and caught her around the waist, sitting her gently back down on the couch.

Neither spoke for several minutes.

Brennan's breathing was all that could be heard, ragged and fast, her chest and shoulders heaving.

"Bones I-"

"And when all this was going on, you were hauled up in a safe house, all relaxed and care-free…" she croaked softly, leaning back against the couch and shutting her eyes.

Booth remained sitting, letting her words sink in.

"I wasn't care-free Bones, all I kept thinking about was you…if you were okay, how you were taking things," he whispered.

There was no response from his partner.

"I was so worried about you…I hated keeping you in the dark so when they told me about the list, the first name I wrote was yours. I-I couldn't bare to be away from you Bones…you meant too much to me-mean too much to me…" Booth paused as he realised what he was about to say, but somehow it just didn't matter, after everything that happened, he knew he had to tell her now.

"I…I care about you so much Temperance, I always have. And that two weeks away from you was like torture, I really couldn't stand it. It just made me realise how meaningful you have made my life and I know now that you'll always be the most important woman to me. I know I was the one who suggested the line and the professionalism but damn it Bones I gotta say this…I…I think…no…I know that I'm in love-"

Suddenly, Seeley broke off as he realised that Temperance head still hadn't moved from where it was lolled on the back of the sofa.

He leaned forward slightly as saw that his partner's eyes were closed tightly, her chest raising and falling softly.

She was asleep.

_All that yelling must have tired her out… _he thought, shaking his head.

He nearly said the most difficult thing in the world and his beautiful, smart, amazing partner wasn't even awake to hear it…perfect…

Sighing, he stood up from the couch and leaned down, cupping Brennan in his arms and lifting her up easily, carrying her as he did before.

Her head rolled onto his shoulder and she snuggled into his as he slowly he made his way to her bedroom.

He gently kicked open the door and stepped into the darkened room.

He stopped at the bed and balanced her gently so he could pull back the covers with one hand.

Gently, he lowered her onto the bed and pulled the covers over her.

He gazed down at her as she sighed gently and shifted back into her pillows.

A small smile crept onto his face as she slept.

She was so beautiful, graceful, peaceful…

He loved seeing her like this…

After a moment, he sighed, leaning down and kissing her on the forehead, his lips gracing her gently.

She mumbled something in her sleep and he had to suppress a laugh at her cuteness.

Carefully, he walked backwards towards the door and stood in the doorway for a moment, just checking on her, before stepping out and pulling the door slightly closed behind him.

Heaving a deep breath, he made his way back to the sitting room, cleaned up, and made his way to the guest room.

After he pulled off his jeans and shirt, he climbed into bed and settled down, resting on his back, his hands behind his head.

As he stared up at the ceiling, watching the moonlight dance across it, he couldn't help but think over what was said.

Bones missed him. Bones cried. She even had a small break-down.

And what did he do?

Well…he loved her…

* * *

**A/N: And there ya go! I was going to keep continuing but I think it'll get too long and the next chapter has a lot in it so I cut it there. Coming up - shocking mail, embarrassing memories, more Booth&Brennan romance and PARKER!!**


	20. Amazing Awards And Burnt Breakfasts

**Brotherly Love?**

**By wired2damoon**

**Chapter 20: Amazing Awards And Burnt Breakfasts**

**Disclaimer: I keep forgetting these, anyway, by now you've more then likely guessed that I am not Hart Hanson - if I was, Angela and Hodgins would have hundreds of sweet, arty, bug-loving babies and Booth and Brennan would get that house with the huge plasma and go fishing at 5am. Oh, and Zack wouldn't be a killer, he'd be the creator of the most successful helper-robots and would still have two fully functioning hands…-wink- seen as none of this has happened (yet hopefully) you can conclude that I do not own Bones…shame really…**

**A/N: It's official, you reviewers are truly amazing people. I bow down and hail you!!**

A loud thumping sound omitted throughout the apartment of Dr. Temperance Brennan, affectively startling her awake.

Her soft, blue eyes peeked open slightly as she heard her bedroom door creak.

Her senses heightened and her hand instantly flew to the baseball bat that lay beside her bed.

She clasped her fist tightly around it and prepared to strike as she felt someone approach her bed.

Suddenly she heard an angry tone come from the hallway.

"Parker no! That's Bones' room!"

She turned and looked down and saw a mass of golden curls at the foot of her bed.

"Good morning Parker", she smiled, her tense shoulders relaxed as she sat up and rest her back against the head board.

"Morning Bones", the little boy grinned, racing to her bedside and giggling as she ruffled his hair.

"Parker what did I-oh…hey Bones", Booth smiled apologetically from the doorway.

Brennan just stared at him before Parker began to draw her attention by pulling her sleeve.

"Yes Parker?" she asked with a grin.

The little boy's face glowed as his said sweetly, "can I give you my get well hug now Dr. Bones?"

Brennan was deeply touched by his gesture and opened her arms.

The little boy raised up on his tip-toes and wrapped his arms around her neck, squeezing her tightly.

Booth watched from the doorway as his son gave his partner a hug. It made his heart swell as he saw Bones close her eyes and hug him back, a solitary tear rolling down her cheek.

Clearing his throat he said loudly, "c'mon Parker you go wash up for breakfast, Daddy wants to talk to Bones for a minute".

Brennan opened her eyes and looked straight at his son as loosened his grip and ran out of the room.

Booth was dumb-founded at what he saw behind those beautiful, blue orbs as she watched Parker leave…_was it love?_

"Uh sorry about that Bones. I went to pick up Parker this morning and he insisted on coming to see you, that little guy can be pretty persuasive…"

Brennan rolled her eyes, "yes, he's a lot like someone else I know."

Booth laughed and he watched Brennan shuffle and attempt to get up.

"Hey, hey Bones watch it- you're gonna hurt yourself!" he scolded, leaping forward and reaching out to help her.

"I'm fine Booth I don't need your help!" she snapped, batting his hands away from her.

Booth frowned at her looking hurt, "you're still mad at me…" he stated lowly.

When Brennan merely peered at him, he elaborated, "look Bones…I didn't mean to push you last night, I really didn't. I just, I let my emotions get the better of me that's all…I-I mean I just…I didn't mean to upset you…" he trailed off lamely, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Brennan stared up at her partner as he stood by her bed, his gaze refusing to meet her's.

"Your handling of my reaction to your death was irrational Booth, but understandable. You felt as if I should have had a more emotional reaction so I informed you that I did - at least for one night, yet I admit it was also irrational of me to get so worked up and angered when questioned on it…" she rambled.

"Meaning what exactly Bones?" he asked feeling a little lost.

Brennan's eyes met his for the first time from where she sat, "meaning, that it was irrational of you to be so offended by my compartmentalisation but it was also irrational of me to react so badly when you questioned it last night".

_Well love isn't rational _thought Booth.

"Bones I-"

Before he could continue however, his son bolted back into the room and stared at the two of them.

"Daddy, I'm finished washing up, can we have pancakes now?" he asked, his brown eyes shinning brightly, so much like his father's.

The two partners turned to look at the child and both their expressions softened.

"Yeah sure buddy, I'm coming out now to make some, I just gotta get Bones' crutches for her…"

Brennan was just about to protest when Parker smiled triumphantly, leaning back in the door way and pulling out two large objects, holding them out unsteadily.

"I already got them Daddy", he said excitedly, wobbling a little as he tried to hold the crutches that were taller then him.

Brennan and Booth smiled at him as Booth leaned forward, ruffling his son's hair exclaiming, "thanks Bud", and taking them from him before handing them to his partner.

Brennan took them without looking at him and all the time fixed her smile at the little boy.

"Thank you very much Parker", she laughed, standing up and making her way out of the room, not caring that she was still in his night clothes.

"Come on then, let's make some pancakes!" she continued, letting the boy walk in front of her.

Booth watched the two of them leave, heaving a deep sigh he soon followed, hoping that Bones would find it in her heart to forgive him for his behaviour the night before…

* * *

"Can I lick the spoon?"

Seeley Booth glanced down at his little boy and beamed, "sure buddy, just give me one second", before hurriedly whisking the pancake-batter.

"Pancake batter isn't healthy for a child to consume Booth", Brennan murmured out of the corner of her mouth once Parker bounced out into the leaving room and was out of ear-shot.

"Yeah well he's gonna be eating them when they're cooked, it's not like I'm gonna let him eat a whole bowl and besides it all goes down the same way anyway Bones", the agent murmured back to his partner who was watching him from where she sat at the counter in her kitchen.

Brennan rolled his eyes, "well obviously Booth. All food is consumed by the mouth, broken down mechanically by the teeth and chemically by saliva formed by the salivary glands and then swallowed where it travels down from the pharynx to the oesophagus then into the stomach where it is dissolved by hydrochloric acid and various digestive enzymes. There is no other way in which to consume it."

Booth merely gaped at her, for such a brainiac she really could render him speechless with her misunderstandings of common phrases.

"No Bones - that's not - I didn't mean…never mind…" he sighed, chuckling to himself softly.

"What's so funny?" Brennan asked, obviously irritated that her partner was laughing pointlessly.

"Forget it Bones…doesn't matter…"

Brennan felt her anger bubble to the surface, she really hated when he did that, but when she heard the soft, sweet voice of his five year old son her frustration quickly diminished.

"Dr. Bones can I have a glass of juice please?"

The anthropologist swivelled around in her chair and looked down at the little boy, an involuntary smile gracing her lips, the same one that always seemed to appear whenever she saw him.

"Sure Parker, orange okay?"

The boy nodded his head vigorously, the blonde curls bouncing around wildly as he did so.

Brennan got down off her stool with a little difficulty, annoyed with herself that she just had to sit in the most awkward piece of furniture in her entire apartment.

She was surprised that her partner didn't offer her any help, although after the way she reacted earlier she didn't blame him.

Throwing him and indignant look, she hobbled over to the fridge and grabbed the juice carton.

She took out a glass and poured some as her partner wove around her with such caution it was as if to touch her would be like setting off an atomic bomb.

Last night's conversation had unnerved them both and it seemed neither wished to breech the subject again for fear of what might be revealed.

Perhaps she was imaging things or maybe suffering from a classic side affect of pain medication but it seemed to Brennan that even the five-year-old that now had placed himself firmly at her kitchen table, noticed that there was something different about the two adults.

Rolling her eyes for thinking a five-year-old child would be able to pick up on the perverse signs of unease between two people such as awkward and fumbling body-language, the doctor hobbled over to Parker and set down the glass in from of him.

"There you go Parker," she smiled, beaming wider when he returned it warmly.

She took the seat directly opposite him and watched him intently over her coffee cup.

He had a sudden changed in demeanour, his head bent lowly and he twiddled his thumbs on his lap.

Booth, it seemed, had noticed his son's attitude and sounded concerned as he asked, "what's wrong buddy?"

Parker head snapped up to look at his father - his identical eyes gazing at him with a look of confusion and fear.

"What wrong with you and Dr. Bones? You aren't talking…are you fighting?" he asked, his tone worried and sorrowful.

Brennan felt the pang of sadness and guilt drop in the pit of her stomach as she heard the little boy's saddened words.

She snuck a glance at her partner whom she noticed was gazing at her too. As their eyes connected, they both made a silent agreement.

"No bud, we're not fighting, we're just tired that's all. We worked really hard putting bad guys away and we're just grumpy and grouchy till we have our coffee", he replied light-heartedly.

The little boy brightened up immediately and his eyes snapped to Brennan, "is that true Dr. Bones?" he asked, sounding hopeful.

Brennan remembered Booth and Sweets telling her about the importance of "bending the truth" when it came to the happiness of little children.

"Every word Parker - I'm so grumpy in the morning", she replied, with similar light-heartedness, stealing another glance at her partner who was giving her a look which clearly said _'you're not only grumpy in the morning'_ - which she ignored of course.

"Good…" the little boy beamed, "because Mommy says that you shouldn't fight with the people you love or you'll make them sad and I don't want you or Daddy to be sad," he finished, throwing his toothy smile back and forth between the adults who were rendered speechless.

Both were stunned by the boy's exclamation but couldn't dwell on it as they were suddenly startled out of their reveries by the sharp beep of the fire alarm.

"Daddy", Parker groaned pointing at the stove, that was now omitting large amounts of thick, black smoke, "you burnt the pancakes!"

* * *

Standing at the doorway, the three people halted abruptly and exchanged glances.

"Daddy do we have to go?" whined the blonde-haired little boy, tugging on his father's hand.

Booth looked down at his son who was giving him his best impression of a kicked puppy.

"Yes Parker we have to go, Bones isn't well and needs her rest…" he said with a tone of finality, reaching up to the coat-rack and grabbing his and his son's coats.

Parker then turned to the woman who was watching them intently.

"I'm glad you're okay Dr. Bones…" he smiled, startling the anthropologist as he swooped forward and hugged her tightly, pressing his ear to her stomach.

Brennan was taken aback at the child's affection for a moment, but balancing herself on her crutches she managed to run her hand through his hair affectionately.

"Thank you Parker, come back and visit me soon won't you?" she asked tenderly as the little boy raised his head to look up at her.

His chocolate-brown eyes shone brightly - Brennan's breath caught as she stared into the eyes which she was so familiar with, "yep Dr. Bones, I'll come visit real soon!"

Booth watched the exchange and felt his heart tingle once more at the sight of his partner and son interacting so well.

He smirked as Parker stood back from Brennan and starting pulling on his coat with his father's help.

When he was finished, Booth reached out and opened the door, ushering his son gently into the hallway and stepping out after him and turning to look at his partner.

"Thanks for the bed and breakfast Bones", he mumbled softly, looking a tad nervous as she continued to stare at him.

"Technically Booth you made your own breakfast, so really it was just 'bed' " she replied matter-of-factly but a small grin broke out on her beautiful face.

Seeley was grateful for small miracles, perhaps they could just put last night's little escapade behind them after all.

"Well, thanks anyway, hey - keep your cell near okay? I'm ringing to check in every half-hour", he said, his charm-smile returning.

Brennan returned his grin and nodded her head, knowing it was utterly futile to argue, "okay, I will…"

Parker waved frantically as they began to walk towards the elevators, "bye Bones!" he called loudly.

Brennan smiled at him and waved back.

Just as the doors slid open, Booth turned back to his partner and looked at her.

The blue eyes caught brown like never before. Brennan couldn't put a name on how her partner looked at her, all she knew is that it knocked the oxygen from her lungs.

"Bye Bones…" he mumbled softly, his chocolate-eyes boring into her's.

Brennan blinked, her breath returning and the trance was broken. Booth turned and stepped into the elevator, his eyes gazing at her once more before the doors slid shut.

Temperance still stood, mouth hung open - quite comically.

What was it with the way he looked at her that always got her so…mesmerised?

Shaking her unwanted thoughts from her mind, Temperance rolled her eyes and stepped back into her living room and shut the door behind her - locking it securely.

Sighing, she shoved her right hand in her pocket and clutched the silver medal - Booth's St. Christopher medal.

She never did think to return it to him, and when she remembered she still hung onto it.

It was an utter mystery to her as to why she would hold on to a religious artefact such as that when she held no faith in the religion's existence whatsoever.

Shaking her head vigorously, she decided that she would return it to him - completely ignoring the fact that for some reason it had brought her immense comfort in the lonely, solitary nights in the hospital. She had clutched it in her palm, almost unwillingly, holding it near her heart ever since he left it with her.

Releasing it tentively, she made her way slowly into the kitchen.

Now what was she going to do?

A smirk graced the anthropologist's face as she suddenly got an idea.

Now all she needed was some cheese…

* * *

Seeley Booth slid the key into his apartment door and held it open for his son to bolt through.

Immediately, Parker raced towards his bedroom to get some necessary supplies for the day.

Booth shook his head and chucked as Parker bounced away down the hall.

Closing the door, he took a look at the mail that he left on his coffee table that morning.

"Bill…bill…bill", he murmured, getting more and more nervous as his gas, electricity and rent notices kept popping up. It wasn't until a formal, crisp, white envelop was revealed, did he stop flicking quickly.

His fingers glided along the soft envelop, a feeling of despair rising within him.

It looked terribly like the notes Harlan had left for him - if not a little larger.

Biting his lip, he tore open the envelop and held out the white paper, his eyes darting through the lines of writing.

**Dear Special Agent Seeley Booth,**

**It is my pleasure to inform you that due to your heroic and impressive actions over the course of your career as an FBI Agent, the J. Edgar Hoover society and field-operatives alike in collaboration with the Jeffersonian Institute have decided to hold an award ceremony in your honor. On the night of the October 9th you will be presented with your long over-due achievement award with like refreshments and social entertainment.**

**I would like to take this time to personally congratulate you Agent Booth, you truly are the perfect example of everything in which an agent strives to be.**

**Yours Sincerely,**

**Robert Davis**

**Deputy Director of the FBI**

Booth let out a low whistle once he finished reading. This had definitely come as a major shock, one of which he felt both pleasantly surprised with and utterly anxious about.

It was odd, receiving mail from the men that took over from Kirby. He didn't ever remember meeting the man.

Attached to the letter, there was another piece of paper.

His eyes bulging with anticipation - he withdrew it.

**SPECIAL AGENT SEELEY BOOTH AND GUEST ARE CORRIGIBLY INVITED TO ATTEND THE AWARD CEREMONY… **

The Agent stopped reading abruptly, taking the opportunity to sink into his couch, not really understanding what was going on.

Shaking his head, Booth's eyes ran over the ticket again, drinking in all the details - his gaze lingering slightly on the words _'and guest'_.

_I have to bring a date? _He thought, an unease coming over him.

But before he could contemplate about his situation a loud screech erupted throughout his apartment and awoke him for his reverie.

"Ahh Daddy!"

Booth's heart jumped as a million thoughts ran through his mind. _Oh no, it's Kinney he has Parker!_

"PARKER!" he yelled, standing up hurriedly, jumping across his couch and bolting down his corridor towards Parker's room.

Skidding to a abrupt halt, Seeley burst through his son's room door, breathing heavily.

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw the inhabitants.

There, giggling heartily away as he sat on the bed, was his son, being ferociously tickled by his Uncle Jared.

"H-Hi D-Daddy! I-I did-didn't know Unc-Uncle Jar-Jared was stay-staying in my r-room", the little boy stuttered between giggles as Jared continued his attack of tickles.

Booth took this opportunity to slump against the door-frame in order to slow down his rapid heart-beat.

"Jared man, you almost gave me a heart-attack! I thought Parker was being attacked!" he scolded, as his older brother glanced confusedly up at him.

Jared laughed softly, "sorry bro - I just couldn't resist tickling my nephew, I know how much he hates it", he replied, and as if to prove his point, began tickling his nephew more.

Booth rolled his eyes, feeling slightly calmer at the sight of them.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" the agent asked as he watched his brother and son wrestle playfully.

Once Parker had calmed down, Jared swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up beside him.

"They're gone to the store, Mom was saying something about you only having bachelor food and that if she was going to make dinner she'd need something decent", his older-brother grinned.

Parker looked ecstatic, "Grandma and Grandpa are here?" he asked excitedly, bouncing up and down on the bed.

Jared nodded and ruffled his hair, "yep - and Grandma told me she can't wait to see how big you've gotten!"

Seeley watched the interaction slightly, his mind still absorbed with the letter he just received.

Suddenly, he was broken out of his thoughts by the loud beep of his cell phone.

Withdrawing it quickly, he smiled as he saw the name pop up on the screen, 'BONES'.

"Hey Bones", he smiled, ignoring the looks of his son and brother.

"Hey Booth - how did you know it was me?" his partner asked, in a small, bewildered tone.

Booth rolled his eyes, "it's a grand invention called Caller-ID Bones, ya heard of it?"

Brennan laughed gently at herself. "Of course."

A beat passed between them, where Jared threw a knowing glance at his brother - Seeley pointed glared at him.

"So what's up?" he asked lightly, stepping out of the room and away from prying eyes and ease dropping ears.

He heard his partner take a deep breath.

"Um…I-I was just wondering if you and Parker wanted to come over for dinner at my place tonight", she said hurriedly, sounding slightly nervous.

Booth's heart panged as he heard her. She sounded adorable, he hated to let her down…

"Oh sorry Bones, my Mom is making dinner at my place tonight, because you know they don't get to see Parker a lot and yeah…" he trailed off, feeling awkward.

Brennan immediately felt the red-blood cells rush to the surface of her cheeks.

"Oh that's fine, you want to spend time with your family, it-it was just an idea really…anyway I gotta go-"

As he listened to her rambling, an idea suddenly struck the agent.

"Wait Bones! Don't hang up! I was just thinking, you know, if you wanted to…maybe you could come over and join us?"

_Oh god, you sound like a love-sick teenager! _he groaned in his mind.

_Well you are a love-sick teenager, minus the teenage part, _came the smug reply of none other then the Angela impersonator.

Brennan mumbled nervously, "I wouldn't want to…impose on the social interactions between you and your family Booth…if I was to penetrate the comforting bonds between…"

Booth stopped listening to his partner's mumbo jumbo anthropologic jargon and just settled to listening to the soft, comforting tone of her voice.

When she took a breath he took his chance and interrupted, "quit the squint-speak Bones and tell me you'll come tonight…my parents want to meet my famous partner", he finished, smirking widely.

Brennan hesitated. It seemed awfully intimate to have dinner with her partner's parents.

_Wasn't that something a couple did?_

Rolling her eyes, Brennan knew she it was irrational not to have dinner with Booth's family. He was her partner after all - and it wasn't like it would be just them and his parents, Parker and Jared would be there too…

"C'mon Bones…Parker really wants you to come", Booth mumbled, feeling a little guilty that his son wasn't even in the same room and wasn't aware what he was talking about. He knew that the little boy would still be over-joyed when he heard though.

Brennan sighed. He got her. At the mention of that little boy, she knew she would agree.

Booth knew it too.

"Fine, I'll come. What time do you want me there?" she asked lightly, already feeling the nervousness set in.

Booth grinned from ear-to-ear when he heard her reply, but he tried to keep the impending happiness out of his tone.

"Uh, around seven," he said, hoping he said it off-handedly.

"Okay then, I'll see you at seven, bye", Brennan responded, sounding slightly as if she were forcing her tone.

"Okay, seven", Booth replied softly before closing his phone with a snap.

Looking up, he became face to face with a set of familiar, shinning eyes.

"Who was that Seeley?" asked Booth's mother, who happened to frighten the life out of him.

"Geez! Mom, don't do that! You almost gave me a heart-attack!" Booth yelled dramatically, holding his palm over his heart.

It was a gift of his mother's, the ability to sneak up on someone, as silent as anything.

Her son inherited it. It came in very handy when Seeley was a sniper.

His mother, a short, plump woman, with rosy cheeks, glared up at him, hands on hips.

"Seeley, don't change the subject! Now, who was that?" she demanded, in her eerily-soft tone.

Seeley sighed, defeated.

"My partner," he mumbled, rubbing his neck nervously.

His mother's face, suddenly burst into a large grin.

"I hope you remembered your manners and invited her to dinner, after all she's been through, she deserves a good meal…" she replied, already walking briskly and beginning to set things up, not waiting for his response.

"If not, call her now Seeley," she order before rolling up her sleeves and started work, "I really have to meet this woman you care so much about", she added softly, her knowing tone escaping.

Booth bit his lip nervously as he heard what his mother just said.

_What had he gotten himself into now?_

**A/N: Sorry to leave it there, but like before it was getting too long so I cut it. The next instalment should be up in a few days. COMING UP - Dinner with the parents (insuring awkwardness all round), Booth pops the question - although it's not the one you're thinking about, and Parker, well, he gets up to a lot of mischief, to the dismay of Booth and Bones!! x**


End file.
